Somalia: Five wounded in a grenade attack after lull in Mogadishu

Aweys Osman Yusuf Mogadishu 10, July.07 - At least five people, four police officers including the head of the police and a civilian, were wounded in Medina district, south of the Somali capital Mogadishu on Monday evening after unknown gunmen threw a hand grenade at the government police in the area. Witnesses said the police were telling shop owners to close their businesses when the blast occurred. Abdulahi Moalim, the district commissioner, told Shabelle that that the grenade was hurled at a shopping zone where a large number of residents were shopping in the evening hour when the night-time curfew was about to be observed. “The police immediately began searching shops and houses nearby to seize the criminals and they are till continuing the investigations and they will find the perpetrators,” he said. Another grenade explosion was also heard in Bullo Hubey neighborhood in the district. Witnesses said Ethiopian troops nearby sealed off the zone and launched searching houses nearby for insurgents and weapons. No casualties have been reported from that incident. Government soldiers supported by Ethiopian troops have been conducting search operations in Mogadishu’s Bakara market for the sixth day as at least 4 grenade blasts forced traders to shut down their shops for on Tuesday. On early Monday morning explosions rocked the market, holding back all people heading to Bakara. Buses had also been denied to move in the main road of Mogadishu’s open-air market.