Al-Shabab attack kills 20, wounds 36 in town in Somalia

By OMAR FARUK
Associated Press

MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) — Officials and witnesses say at least 20 people are dead and 36 others are wounded after extremist fighters targeted a local Somali government headquarters in the Hiran region. The town has been the center of a recent mobilization against extremists. The Somalia-based al-Shabab claimed responsibility for the attack in the town of Beledweyne. Somalia’s government earlier Monday announced that it and international partners had killed a top al-Shabab leader over the weekend. The Hiran governor survived the extremists’ attack and told The Associated Press that the health minister of Hirshabelle state and the deputy governor of Hiran in charge of finance were among those killed Monday.