MOGADISHU, Somalia - MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) — A suicide bomber in Somalia wounded five soldiers by detonating an explosives-laden car at an army base in a town recently wrested from insurgent control, a policeman said Saturday.
Mohamed Farah said the bomber was killed in the blast in the town of Afgoye. He said the bomber detonated the car after soldiers intercepted it and started to fire at him when he attempted to drive into a base for intelligence officers.
Witnesses said they heard a large explosion and saw smoke billowing.
Afgoye town was recently liberated from the control of an al-Qaida-linked militant group.
African Union and Somali troops seized the town on the outskirts of Mogadishu from al-Shabab militants after three days of fighting last month, marking the biggest victory over al-Shabab since the pro-government forces took control of the capital last August.
Somalia has not had an effective central government since 1991.
More than 300,000 internally displaced Somalis live in and around Afgoye, some 30 kilometres (20 miles) north of Mogadishu, the capital.
Al-Shabab militants ambushed a convoy of vehicles carrying Somalia's president late last month according to the AU, but the attack was repelled.
The AU said the attack on the president's convoy happened as the president was travelling from Afgoye back to Mogadishu. The president returned safely to Mogadishu.
