Somalia government spokesperson wounded in explosion in capital

A woman, right, points a medical worker to remains of the suicide bomber at the scene, after Somalia's government spokesperson Mohamed Ibrahim Moalimuu was wounded in a suicide bombing in Mogadishu, Somalia, Sunday, Jan. 16, 2022. (AP)

MOGADISHU: Somalia’s government spokesperson was wounded Sunday in a suicide bombing that the al-Shabab extremist group has claimed responsibility for.
Mohamed Ibrahim Moalimuu appeared to be the sole target in Sunday’s attack near his residence by a busy intersection in the capital, Mogadishu. A statement from the prime minister’s office called his wounds non-life-threatening.
It has been widely expected that such attacks would increase as tensions rise in Somalia over a national election that has been delayed for almost a year.
“Such attacks are purely politically motivated actions,” said Mohamed Abdulaziz Omar, a local civil society activist, adding that it also occurred in past elections in the Horn of Africa nation.