{"id":27228,"date":"2016-07-26T02:33:31","date_gmt":"2016-07-26T02:33:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/blasts-heard-near-mogadishu-airport\/"},"modified":"2016-07-26T02:33:21","modified_gmt":"2016-07-26T02:33:21","slug":"blasts-heard-near-mogadishu-airport","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/blasts-heard-near-mogadishu-airport\/","title":{"rendered":"Blasts heard near Mogadishu airport"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>{Big explosions followed by gunfire have been heard near the main entrance of the airport in the Somali capital, Mogadishu, local media have reported.}<\/p>\n<p>Thick smoke could be seen rising from the area, where there is also a base for African Union (AU) peacekeepers.<\/p>\n<p>Local journalists said the blasts had been caused by two bombs. At least one was detonated by a suicide attacker in a vehicle near a checkpoint, they said.<\/p>\n<p>There are reports of casualties among security guards on the checkpoint.<\/p>\n<p>The militant Islamist group, al-Shabab, which is allied to al-Qaeda, has carried out frequent attacks in Somalia, including in Mogadishu, in an attempt to oust the UN-backed government.<\/p>\n<p>The group has been pushed out of most of the main towns it once controlled, but analysts say it remains a potent threat.<\/p>\n<p>It has been increasing its attacks ahead of planned elections in Somalia.<\/p>\n<p>{{Who are Somalia&#8217;s al-Shabab?}}<\/p>\n<p>Hotels have been attacked by car bombs and then armed assault teams over the past few weeks.<\/p>\n<p>The large airport area in Mogadishu is a secure &#8220;green zone&#8221; for UN operations, the AU peacekeeping force and foreign embassies.<\/p>\n<p>The Somali government, with the help of African Union forces, is fighting al-Shabab militants in several parts of the country.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"spip-document spip-document-13790 aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/jpg\/_90515810_mog.jpg\" alt=\"A large plume of smoke rose into the sky after the blasts\" \/><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>{Big explosions followed by gunfire have been heard near the main entrance of the airport in the Somali capital, Mogadishu, local media have reported.} Thick smoke could be seen rising from the area, where there is also a base for African Union (AU) peacekeepers. Local journalists said the blasts had been caused by two bombs. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[100],"byline":[249],"hashtag":[],"class_list":["post-27228","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-africa","byline-bbc"],"bylines":[{"id":249,"name":"BBC","slug":"bbc","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":104}],"contributors":[{"id":249,"name":"BBC","slug":"bbc","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":104}],"featured_image":null,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27228","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27228"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27228\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27228"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27228"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27228"},{"taxonomy":"byline","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/byline?post=27228"},{"taxonomy":"hashtag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hashtag?post=27228"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}