Mogadishu suicide attacker claims the lives of at least 10 during army recruitment event.

According to witnesses, at least 10 individuals died on Sunday when a suicide bomber struck a line of young recruits signing up at the Damanyo military base in Mogadishu, Somalia’s capital, in an assault claimed by the militant organization al Shabaab.

They reported that teenagers were queued at the base’s entrance when the assailant set off their explosives. A military captain identifying himself as Suleiman recounted the assault as he witnessed it occur.

Government troops swiftly sealed off the whole region. In a statement released on Sunday, the Islamist militant organization al Shabaab claimed responsibility for the assault, asserting it had killed up to 30 soldiers and injured another 50. Officials from the government were unavailable for a comment right away.

Al Shabaab, connected to Al Qaeda, has carried out an insurgency in Somalia since 2007 and has recently engaged with the military to expand its hold in central Somalia. The assault mirrored a comparable event in 2023 when a suicide bomber took the lives of 25 soldiers at the Jale Siyad base, situated across from the Damanyo facility.

The assault on Sunday came after the killing on Saturday of Colonel Abdirahmaan Hujaale, who was the commander of battalion 26 in the Hiiran area, following local reports regarding the infiltration of al Shabaab militants into government and security forces.