An Islamist suicide bomber blew himself up outside a school in the Somali capital, Mogadishu, killing eight people and injuring 17 others, including 13 children.
The Shebab Islamists claimed responsibility for the attack, saying they wanted to hit a United Nations security convoy passing near the school.
A UN spokesman in Mogadishu declined to comment. An employee of the agency, who spoke anonymously to Reuters, said that none of the foreign workers were injured. There is no information on whether Somali workers at the UN are among the victims.
The blast knocked down ceilings in several rooms of the Mokaashir primary and secondary school, eyewitnesses said. “Schools, like any other place where children gather, should be safe places,” said Mohamed Malik Fal, UNICEF’s regional director for East and South Africa.
A 13-year-old student, Abdisalan Omar Ibrahim, said the blast was heard as he wrote the headline for a history lesson his teacher had begun teaching them. Screams from his classmates followed as debris fell on them. “A brick hit me in the head and blood was flowing in my uniform,” he said.
Ibrahim and other students were taken to hospital and all but one were discharged after receiving first aid.
