3 soldiers killed in roadside bomb in Somalia

At least three Somali soldiers on ab ordnance-clearing mission were killed by a roadside bomb today just 90 kilometres north of the capital.

Al Qaeda-linked Al-Shabaab claimed responsibility for the attack at a checkpoint on the outskirts of the town of Shalanbood in the Lower Shabelle region.

We went out of town in search of bombs but one had been planted right on the spot where we were based 

regional military official, Mohamed Nur, said.

“The blast killed three of my colleagues and injured four others,” he told Reuters.

The insurgents gave a higher toll.

“We are behind the bomb at the checkpoint that killed four soldiers, including two officials,” Al-Shabaab’s military operations spokesman, Sheikh Abdiasis Abu Musab, said.

The group carries out frequent attacks in and around the capital Mogadishu in its decade-old attempt to topple the Western-backed government and drive out African Union peacekeeping troops.

Somalia has been at war since 1991, when clan-based warlords overthrew dictator Siad Barre and then turned on each other.