Suicide bomber kills seven in Somalia

Officials said a suicide bomber killed six guards and a civilian at a military base in the Somali capital, an attack that came after two weeks of intense fighting in war-torn Mogadishu.

Two Islamic insurgent forces have formed an alliance and are trying to push the UN-backed government from the capital, which has been heavily shelled in the last two days.

Over 150 people have been killed and hundreds injured in the past two weeks, and the UN said the violence has prompted 57,000 Somalis to flee the city.

Abdifitah Ibrahim Shawey, the region’s deputy governor and the deputy mayor of Mogadishu, said today’s bomber had pale skin, leading authorities to suspect he was one of around 300 foreigners fighting alongside Islamist insurgents.