At least four Somali Al-Shabaab fighters have been killed and over 10 others injured in an explosion that rocked their base in restive capital Mogadishu.

The explosion, which is still unclear its cause, happened inside a health centre in the Bakara Market, an Al-Shabaab’s stronghold, where top officials of the group, including Sheikh Mukhtar Robow Abu Mansur and others were meeting.

“A big explosion rocked the helath centre yesterday night. It caused death and destructions,” a trader who requested anonymity.

Close sources said Abu Mansur escaped unhurt but some Al-Shabaab fighters, who were admitted in the centre, were not lucky.

The explosion come a day after Abu Mansur declared Jihad agsint the UN-backed government and AU forces in the capital Mogadishu.

Meanwhile, a Somali lawmaker who went missing on Thursday, has come out publicly to declare his support for Al-Shabaab.

Lawmaker Salah Nur Ismael aka Badbado announced in a press conference that he has ditched the government for the militant group.

“I left the government because it failed to rule the country in accordance to the Islamic law. And I joined a group that wants to accomplish it,” he told reporters while under the guard of heavily armed Al-Shabaab militiamen.

The lawmaker, who is from northern Somalia (Somaliland), accused AU troops and government forces of indiscriminate attacks against the population, which are under their rule.

He is the first lawmaker to desert the government to the opposition since the formation of Sheikh Sharif’s government, which has former Islamist leaders in its ranks, more than one year ago

The government has recently announced plans to pacify the capital and other regions from Islamist rule.

GAROWE ONLINE