A senior Somali military official was killed in a car bomb explosion in Somalia’s capital Mogadishu on Sunday.
General Mohamed Roble Jimale aka “Goobaale” and six of his bodyguards died when their convoy was hit by a car loaded with explosives near the entrance of Somalia’s ministry of defense headquarters in Mogadishu, Abdifitah Omar Halane, a spokesman for the Mogadishu regional administration told VOA.
Al-Shabab claimed responsibility for the attack.
The general was the head of the 3rd battalion in the Somali army and was also a leading officer in the fight against the Somali militant group.
Al-Shabab was pushed out of Mogadishu by African Union peacekeeping forces in 2011 but has remained a potent antagonist in Somalia, launching frequent attacks aimed at overthrowing the Western-backed government.
