Somali police forces have arrested a police officer after a suicide truck bombing that targeted a security checkpoint in Beledweyne, killing at least 36 people and wounding 40 others.
The Beledweyne police commander, Ahmed Ali Adan, told local media on Tuesday that the arrested officer was responsible for the security checkpoint where the car bomb managed to pass through. He stated that the police actively pursued other people but did not name them.
The truck loaded with explosive devices forcefully passed through the government-manned checkpoint to target a taxation and security checkpoint at the former beverages factory building called Horseed. According to eyewitnesses, a pickup vehicle belonging to security personnel was chasing when the explosion occurred.
In response to the incident, Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud and the African Union Transition Mission in Somalia (ATMIS) condemned Saturday’s deadly al-Shabab suicide attack in Beledweyne.
The terror group al-Shabaab has doubled its attack since Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mahamud, elected for a second term last year, declared an “all-out war” on al-Shabaab. The terrorist group since then has lost large swaths of territory in central regions, including the coastal town of Haradhere, which had been under the militants’ control for over a decade.
