13 soldiers killed by suicide bomber in Somalia.

In an attack that was claimed by the militant group al Shabaab, a suicide bomber in Mogadishu, the capital of Somalia, wounded at least 20 people while killing at least 13 troops inside a military academy on Monday.

The al Qaeda-linked group has been driven from vast swaths of land in southern Somalia as a result of a military operation began by government forces and allied militiamen in 2022, but the militants have continued to conduct deadly raids.

Al-Shabaab fighters have increased their attacks in recent weeks as the military effort against them has paused while the army prepares a second phase of the offensive.

At a facility south of Mogadishu in late May, they murdered at least 54 Ugandan peacekeepers. One of the biggest cities in the nation, Baidoa, was under siege for about two weeks. Additionally, this month they have conducted a number of raids in Mogadishu.

The Jale Siyaad military academy was the target of the explosion on Monday. A soldier at the military hospital in Mogadishu who only provided his name as Ahmed claimed to have the bodies of 13 troops who died and 20 more who were injured in the explosion.

According to Captain Ali Farah, who knew some of the victims, they were from the Lower Shabelle region and had gone to the city for training. He claimed to be aware of 10 fatalities to date.

“The soldiers were being counted in the queue when the suicide bomber blew himself up,” Farah said.

In a statement, Al Shabaab claimed that the bomber had injured 124 people in addition to killing 73 soldiers. Usually, the group provides casualty estimates that are far higher than those made available by the authorities.

Since 2006, Al Shabaab has fought to overthrow Somalia’s national government and install its own system of governance based on a strict application of Islamic Sharia law.