The death toll in the assassination bid on Somali President Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed has risen to 12 as investigations continue to establish who is responsible, an official of the Transitional Federal Government (TFG) said on Tuesday to IRINnews.
At least six people, including Yusuf’s brother Jigre Yusuf Ahmed, died instantly and up to 10 others were wounded in Monday’s explosion in the town of Baidoa, the temporary seat of the TFG, as Yusuf left a building housing the interim parliament.
More bodies were later recovered from the scene and another person died of his wounds in a local hospital.
The government could confirm that a suicide bomber caused the explosion, not a remote-controlled device.
– If confirmed that it was a suicide bomber then the Somali problem has entered a new and more dangerous stage, said Matt Bryden, a regional analyst.
– In all these years [of civil war] there has been no case of suicide bombing in Somalia.
