By DPA,
Dubai : Somalia’s Security Minister Omar Hashi has been killed in a suicide bomb attack, Al-Arabiya TV reported Thursday.
No further details were immediately available.
The country – widely regarded as a failed state since the early 1990s – has seen violent clashes in the capital, Mogadishu, forcing the displacement of tens of thousands of residents.
On Wednesday, at least 20 people died during fighting between Islamist insurgents and government forces, including a dozen leaving evening prayers.
A stray shell destroyed a mosque in the north of the city, following heavy clashes in north and south Mogadishu, where insurgent groups al-Shabaab and Hizbul Islam are trying to oust President Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed.
Mogadishu’s police chief, Colonel Ali Saed, was amongst those killed Wednesday as government forces attempted to dislodge the insurgents, who gained territory when they began a major offensive in early May.