MOGADISHU (SD) – A senior military commander and a district administrator have today survived after their convoys hit by two seperate landmines in Somalia.

The first attack which targeted a convoy carrying Somali National Army deputy Abas Amin happened along Abdiqasim road.

Somali police spokesperson Sadaq Adan Ali confirmed the attack saying it was a landmine planted on roadside.

Witnesses at scene said the blast killed three people including two of the commander’s bodyguards.

Hours later another blast targeted a motorcade of Yaqshid District Commissionerd Ahmed Abdullahi Ariif along Mogadishu-Darusalam road.

Al-Shabaab militant group has claimed the responsibility for the attacks saying several government soldiers were killed in the blasts.

The group which is an al-Qaeda affiliate has been fighting Somali government for the past one decade.

They normally target government installations, military bases, hotels and restaurants in major towns.

Al-Shabaab amniyat, the group’s hit squad also carry out assassinations against military officials, civil servants, local and International NGO workers and former government workers.