Suicide car bomber attacks local government office

August 21, 2016 12:10 PM

A suicide bomber has attacked the local government office in Puntland region Galkayo town in Somalia on Sunday, August 21, 2016.

A Somali policeman walks towards the scene of an explosion outside the headquarters of Somalia's Criminal Investigation Department (CID) in the capital Mogadishu, July 31, 2016.

A suicide car bomb went off at the local government headquarters in Somalias Galkayo town in the semi-autonomous Puntland region on Sunday, police said, and residents said two blasts had struck the area.

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"The situation is a mess," said Ahmed Farah, a police officer, who did not have details of any casualties.

Witnesses and residents said they heard two loud blasts in quick succession followed by heavy gunfire.

"There were two huge bombs. The first one was a truck bomb, followed a minute or so (later) by another car bomb. My brother was injured at the scene," Halima Ismail, a local resident, told Reuters.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility but the al Shabaab militant group has been carrying out a series of deadly attacks in Somalia.