14 dead in Somalia double suicide blasts

Powerful double suicide explosions rocked southwestern Somalia on Saturday, killing 14 people and injuring 20 others.

Two unidentified men wearing suicide west separately targeted Bilan hotel and Badri restaurant in Baidoa city in southwestern Bay region, Abdi Mohamed Ali, a police captain told Anadolu News Agency. He added that the most of the casualties were civilians.

Bay's information minister Ugas Hassan Ibrahim said that the injured were rushed to the Baidoa Regional Hospital for treatment.

The militant group, al-Shabaab, claimed responsibility for the attack, through Andalus Radio, its media channel. The group frequently carries out suicide attacks in Somalia and parts of East Africa.

Somalia has been plagued with insecurity, violence and political chaos in the last three decades. Infighting between the forces of the Federal Government of Somalia, assisted by African Union peacekeeping troops, and various militant Islamist groups and factions, have claimed thousands of lives.

-ANI