Mogadishu, Somalia:
Four regional footballers in Somalia have been killed when an explosion believed to have been brought on by a bomb ripped via their bus on Friday, police and witnesses stated.
Ten players from the Jubaland Chamber of Commerce and Industry club have been heading off for a game at the Kismayo city stadium in southern Somalia when the blast hit.
“The players were riding in a bus when the explosion went off, presumably inside the vehicle. There are investigations going on but we presume the device was planted onto the bus,” stated police officer Mohamed Sadiq.
He stated 4 football players have been killed and 5 other folks wounded.
“The blast was huge and it caused devastating fire which burned down the bus, people rushed to remove the dead bodies and wounded players,” stated witness Ibrahim Ahmed.
“I saw the burning bus and three dead bodies of the players — this was horrible because football players are not politicians,” added one more witness, Said Adan.
There was no quick claim of duty for the blast in Kismayo, capital of the southern state of Jubaland which borders Kenya.
Jubaland was the 1st state to get started voting this week in lengthy-delayed national elections in Somalia that the Al-Qaeda linked Al-Shabaab jihadist group has threatened to disrupt.
The extremists have been fighting to overthrow the federal government given that 2007 and often attack government, safety and civilian targets.
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