A suicide bomb explosion in central Somalia has killed at least five people including a regional governor on Sunday, officials told VOA Somali.
The governor of Puntland administration’s Mudug region Ahmed Muse Nur and three of his bodyguards and his driver were killed after a suicide bomber driving a rickshaw rammed into his vehicle in the town of Galkayo, 600 kilometers north of Mogadishu.
Mayor Sahid Mohamud Ali told VOA Somali that the governor died at the scene along with his bodyguards and driver.
“It was a suicide vehicle filled with explosives that hit the governor’s car,” Ali said.
Nur was appointed to his post in May of last year. He previously served as deputy governor and was described a veteran of the region’s politics.
The al-Shabab militant group claimed responsibility for the explosion.
Nur is the second governor from Puntland administration assassinated by suicide bombers within two months. On March 29, the governor of Nugal region Abdisalam Hassan Hersi was killed after he was fatally injured in a suicide bombing in the town of Garowe.