A wave of roadside bombs in Somalia's capital killed seven people over two days, officials said on Tuesday, as government forces struggled to secure Mogadishu against attacks from Islamist rebels. Al Qaeda-affiliated al Shabaab militants, fighting Somalia's Western-backed government, pulled out of most of their permanent bases in Mogadishu in August, and vowed to switch to guerrilla tactics and target government installations.
Police and residents blamed al Shabaab fighters for the latest wave of blasts in the capital. Analysts say local clan leaders and warlords have also moved in to take advantage of a security vacuum in Mogadishu, which government troops and African Union peacekeepers have failed to fill. On Monday a roadside bomb killed two Somali soldiers and wounded three after it exploded near their car in northern Mogadishu, police officer Mohamed Abdullahi Omar told Reuters.