{"id":404101,"date":"2018-02-24T12:38:05","date_gmt":"2018-02-24T12:38:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/citifmonline.com\/?p=404101"},"modified":"2018-02-24T12:38:05","modified_gmt":"2018-02-24T12:38:05","slug":"somalia-deadly-double-car-bombing-near-presidential-palace","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2018\/02\/somalia-deadly-double-car-bombing-near-presidential-palace\/","title":{"rendered":"Somalia: Deadly double car bombing near presidential palace"},"content":{"rendered":"
Two car-bomb attacks have killed at least 38 people in the Somali capital Mogadishu, officials say.<\/p>\n
The first took place outside the presidential palace late on Friday. The second hit a nearby hotel. Dozens of people were wounded.<\/p>\n
The Islamist militant group al-Shabab, which has been trying to oust Somalia’s government, says it was behind both.<\/p>\n
A gun battle followed the attack near the presidential palace in which five militants were killed, officials say.<\/p>\n
Friday’s bombings are the latest in a series of attacks attributed to al-Shabab, which once controlled Mogadishu before being forced out by African Union troops in 2011.<\/p>\n
Last October, more than 500 people were killed by a truck bomb in the city. Officials blamed al-Shabab but the group never said it was behind that attack.<\/p>\n