15 Killed in Twin Car Bombings in Central Somalia

At least 15 people were killed and several others injured in simultaneous car bomb attacks in a town in central Somalia on Wednesday, according to security officials and witnesses. Local security official Abdullah Adam told AFP by phone: "The terrorists attacked the town of Mahas in the morning using two car bombs. They targeted a civilian area, and we have confirmed that 15 people, all of them civilians, were killed in the explosions." The agency reported that "the attack was attributed to members of the extremist group al-Shabaab in the Hiran region of central Somalia, where a large-scale operation was launched months ago against the group linked to al-Qaeda." The police chief in Mahas, Osman Noor, stated: "After their defeat, the terrorists resorted to desperately targeting civilians, but that will not stop the people's desire to continue defeating them." He added: "They killed innocent civilians in the explosions." Witnesses noted that the blasts occurred near a restaurant close to a regional administration building in Mahas. A witness named Adam Hassan said: "I saw the bodies of civilians, some of whom were women and children. It was a horrific attack."