An Islamic extremist suicide bomber detonated an explosives-laden vehicle at the gate of the Somalia’s presidential palace in the capital, killing at least four people, a police official said.

The bomber rammed his vehicle near soldiers guarding the Mogadishu compound that is the official residence of the president, prime minister and the speaker of Parliament, Capt. Mohamed Hussein told The Associated Press by phone.

The bomber appeared to target foreign officials who were leaving the presidential palace, killing two of them, he said. He did not identify the nationality of the officials. At least two soldiers also died in the blast, he added.

Huge smoke could be seen billowing over the scene of the blast and soldiers fired into the air to disperse the crowd who gathered around, according to witness Abdirahman Mohamed, who lives near the presidential palace. Ambulances rushed to the scene to transport the blast victims to hospitals.

The Somali Islamic extremist group al-Shabab, which has ties with al-Qaida, claimed responsibility for the attack in a message broadcast over its online radio Andalus.

The message said the attack targeted “senior apostate leaders and Christian foreign invaders.”

Despite being forced out of many of their strongholds, al-Shabab fighters are still able to launch lethal attacks in Mogadishu and elsewhere in Somalia, often targeting African Union troops and government officials.

The attack comes as Somalia’s regional and national leaders are holding consultative meetings focusing on presidential elections scheduled for next year.

At least 80 people were killed and about 150 injured in multiple bomb attacks in northeastern Nigeria’s Borno state on Sunday evening, police and witnesses said on Monday, reports Reuters.

The state is the birthplace of the insurgency waged by Boko Haram and has been the focus of attacks by suspected members of the militant Islamist group that have killed more than 800 people since President Muhammadu Buhari took office on May 29.

Three bomb blasts in the state capital Maiduguri around 7:30 p.m. (1830 GMT) left at least 54 people dead and 90 injured. Around two hours later, two bombs exploded at a checkpoint some 135 km away at a market in the town of Monguno.

Locals residents and a hospital source said that attack killed 27 people and injured 62 others.

No one has claimed responsibility for the attacks but they bore the hallmarks of the jihadi sect, which has been trying to carve out a state in the northeast of Africa’s most populous country since 2009.

The Boko Haram insurgency has killed thousands and displaced 2.1 million people. Buhari’s March election victory owed much to his vow to defeat the insurgents, but there was a spike in attacks across northern Nigeria in the two months following his inauguration and Maiduguri was hit on a near weekly basis.

A new offensive launched by the Nigerian army to clear Boko Haram out of more towns over the last month has led to a sharp drop in the frequency of attacks in Borno, the worst affected by the insurrection, and neighboring states.

Maiduguri has been free of attacks for about a month. It was last hit by a bomb at the end of July and there was a skirmish with suspected Boko Haram militants on the outskirts of the city in mid-August.

Burkina Faso army troops have entered the capital Ouagadougou without resistance and begun negotiating the surrender of coup leaders, police said early Tuesday as France’s ambassador tweeted that the interim president had been released.

“All units (of the army mobilised on Monday to march on the capital) reached Ouagadougou” overnight, Colonel Serge Alain Ouedraogo, deputy head of the Burkinabe police, told AFP.

“We must now secure the surrender of the (coup leaders) without gunfire or bloodshed,” he said.

He spoke after French ambassador Gilles Thibault tweeted that interim president Michel Kafando, who had been under house arrest, was now “at the French residence”.

Kafando had been arrested on Wednesday as Burkina was plunged into turmoil when soldiers from the powerful presidential guard regiment loyal to ex-leader Blaise Compaore detained him and prime minister Isaac Zida, himself a former deputy commander of the unit.

The RSP, an elite unit of 1,300 men, officially declared a coup the following day and installed General Gilbert Diendere, a close Compaore ally, as the country’s new leader.

At least 10 people were killed and more than 100 injured in protests sparked by the coup, which came just weeks before what would have been the first elections since Compaore was ousted in a popular revolt last October after trying to extend his 27-year grip on power.

Burkina Faso’s army chiefs on Monday ordered coup leaders to lay down their arms as troops began marching from the provinces towards the capital Ouagadougou.

“All the national armed forces are converging on Ouagadougou with the sole aim of disarming the presidential guard (RSP) without any bloodshed,” an army statement said.

It advised members of the RSP to go to the Sangoule Lamizana military barracks west of the capital, saying they and their families would remain safe.

The stark warnings came as anger grew over a west African-mediated peace deal to end the latest crisis in the landlocked former French colony.

Witnesses said the military units were greeted along their march to the capital by crowds of people cheering.

French President Francois Hollande also demanded “all those involved in the putsch to immediately lay down their arms and hand over power to the legitimate authorities—or face the consequences.”

And he warned that France, which still wields significant influence in its former African colonies, could also “apply sanctions to those opposing the holding of regular elections”.

A similar call was also issued by the presidents of Niger and Chad, who called on the renegade soldiers to “return to the barracks” and hand back power to the transition administration they toppled on September 17.

 ‘Serious reservations’ 

Following the coup, Senegal’s President Macky Sall, the rotating head of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), undertook three days of mediation and on Sunday came up with a 12-point plan to end the crisis.

The ECOWAS deal provides for presidential and parliamentary elections to be held by November 22 at the latest, and crucially would allow for pro-Compaore candidates to take part after they complained about being excluded from October’s vote.

ECOWAS mediators said the fate of the RSP should be decided by a future Burkinabe leader.

And they have also proposed an amnesty for those behind the coup—a suggestion that has sparked widespread anger on the streets.

Diendere on Monday had said he would honour the ECOWAS proposal and hand over power.

But Kafando told France’s RFI radio he had “serious reservations” about the ECOWAS peace deal and was sceptical that any solution to the crisis would be achieved during the Abuja summit on Tuesday.

He said he had not been invited to attend.

‘Shameful’ amnesty proposal 

In Ouagadougou, residents were highly critical of the ECOWAS proposal and furious at the suggestion of amnesty for the presidential guards.

“We don’t trust ECOWAS any more. We want to get out there and take our destiny in our hands,” said Adama Traore, an office worker in his 30s.

“The bodies are not even buried and (they want) an amnesty. We shall barricade everything,” he said.

Civil society activists who played a major role in the uprising that toppled Compaore have also condemned the ECOWAS proposals, with the main “Balai Citoyen” (Civic Broom) group branding the deal “shameful”.

“We cannot accept the amnesty. There are comrades who have fallen and ECOWAS is telling us to extend an amnesty,” said Mady Ouedraogo, a spokesman for Balai Citoyen.

Although the streets of the capital were filled with traffic and many shops were open on Monday, Internet access was barely available and several mobile phone networks were not working.

Many of last year’s demonstrations against Compaore were organised through social media.

mgafrica.com