Monday June 5, 2017
Al Shabaab militants parade new recruits after arriving in Mogadishufrom their training camp south of the capital in this October 21, 2010 file photo. The United States has carried out an air strike in Somalia, killing more than 150 fighters with the al Qaeda-linked Islamist group al Shabaab, following U.S. intelligence on preparations for a large-scale militant attack, the Pentagon said on March 7, 2016. REUTERS/Feisal Omar/Files [Reuters]
MOGADISHU (Reuters) - A bomb planted in a police station killed at least one policeman in Somalia's southern port city of Kismayu on Monday, and militant Islamist group al Shabaab claimed responsibility.
"A policeman died and several others were injured after a bomb blast. We are investigating the cause of the blast," Hassan Nur, a policeman, told Reuters by phone.
Al Shabaab said the toll was higher. "We planted a bomb inside a police station in Kismayu. We killed four policemen and wounded 27 others," its military operations spokesman Abdiasis Abu Musab said.
Al Shabaab lost control of Kismayu in 2012, depriving it of a key source of funds. It had ruled most of south-central Somalia until 2011, when it was driven out of the capital Mogadishu by African Union troops.
Despite the loss of territory, al Shabaab still carries out major gun and bomb attacks, and often claims casualty numbers that conflict with those given by government officials.
(Reporting by Feisal Omar and Abdi Sheikh; Editing by George Obulutsa and Mark Trevelyan)