On Wednesday, March 13th 2019, bombs placed by Al Shabaab detonated in a busy livestock market in Gof-gadud Burey district of Somalia’s Bay region. The blasts left at least five dead and 40 wounded.
The wounded were transported to hospitals in Baidoa for treatment.
Al-Shabaab claimed responsibility for the attack, claiming to have killed seven soldiers – a claim denied by local officials.
Action on Armed Violence (AOAV) records casualties (i.e. people killed and injured) from explosive violence around the world as reported in English-language news sources.
In 2018, Somalia was one of the countries that saw a significant decrease in civilian harm from explosive violence (with a 48% decrease in civilian casualties from 1,582 to 825). Nevertheless, Somalia was still the sixth worst impacted country from explosive weapons, with 825 civilian casualties from such violence.
Of these civilian casualties, 94% were caused by improvised explosive devices (IEDs) – 64% were from incidents using suicide attacks.
AOAV calls for states and international organisations to work collaboratively to generate greater awareness of the number of civilians killed and injured each year by IEDs, and encourage a greater stigma from political, religious and social leaders on the use of IEDs. There is an urgent need for preventative measures to be implemented by States and the international community
