Suicide Bomber Kills 15 Somalis in Mogadishu

A Shabaab suicide bomber killed 15 Somalis in an attack in Mogadishu today as Kenyan forces advance against the terror group in the south.

The suicide attack occurred near the old foreign ministry building in the Somali capital. A suicide bomber detonated his car packed with explosives outside the building, killing 15 Somalis and wounding 20 more, according to Mareeg Online. Most of those killed and wounded were civilians, Mareeg reported.

The suicide attack is the second in the capital this month. On Oct. 4, a suicide bomber detonated a car bomb outside a building where scholarships were being awarded by the Turkish government to Somali students. More than 100 Somalis, mostly students and their families, were killed in the massive blast.

Since mid-2006, Shabaab and its predecessor, the Islamic Courts, have carried out more than 30 major suicide attacks in Somalia.

Today's bombing took place as Kenyan forces have moved into southern Somalia to attack Shabaab bases there. Kenyan troops invaded southern Somalia two days ago, just one day following the announcement by Kenyan officials that they would tackle the terror group after several high-profile kidnappings of foreign aid workers inside Kenyan camps.

Kenyan troops, backed by Somali forces, are advancing on the city of Afmadow, about 50 miles inside Somali territory. Some reports indicate that Shabaab fighters have abandoned the city but are said to be gathering reinforcements from other areas to fight the Kenyans. Other reports claim, however, that Shabaab forces are digging into Afmadow to fight the Kenyan advance.

In response to Kenya's deployment of forces in Somalia, Shabaab spokesman Ali Mohamud Rage warned that Shabaab would retaliate with suicide bombings in Kenya, saying “[R]emember what happened in Uganda's capital,” a reference to the 2010 Shabaab suicide attacks in Kampala that killed 76 people, according to The Associated Press. The Kampala attack cell was named after a senior al Qaeda leader who also served as a senior Shabaab commander.

“Your skyscrapers will be destroyed, your tourism will disappear. We shall inflict on you the same damage you inflicted on us,” Rage continued at his press conference, which was held in Mogadishu.

Despite official statements by Kenyan officials announcing the operation, the Somali government has denied reports that Kenyan troops have entered the south. The weak Transitional Federal Government has been dependent on Ugandan and Burundian troops from the African Union to help secure the capital of Mogadishu. Shabaab withdrew most of its forces from the capital late last summer, and vowed to wage low-level attacks.