Mogadishu bomb blast kills Somali MP

A police commander says a remotely detonated car bomb blast in Somalia’s capital has killed a member of parliament. Gen Garad Nur Abdulle, a police commander, said the body of Mohamoud Ibrahim Garweyne was burned beyond recognition. Garweyene was previously the trade and industries minister in the Somali government. Nor Abdi, a Somali police officer, originally said the explosives-ridden car prematurely exploded in front of a hotel, killing the driver of the car bomb. That account turned out to be wrong, according to The Associated Press. Abdi said five civilians were wounded in the blast. “The explosion was very heavy,” Hassan Muhidin, a witness, told AFP. “The front part of the car was totally destroyed and the severed dead body of the driver is still lying there.” Some witnesses said the explosion could have been a bomb attached beneath the driver’s seat -- a tactic reportedly used previously by the al-Qaeda-linked Shabab insurgents -- as the front of the vehicle was worst hit. “My sister, who was selling tea near the scene of the explosion, was seriously injured,” said Farhiyo Ahmed, another witness. “I saw several other bleeding people who were injured.” Such attacks are typically carried out by al-Shabab, Somalia’s most dangerous militant group. Security in Mogadishu has improved dramatically over the last year, after African Union and Somali troops kicked al-Shabab out of the city last August.