A powerful bomb blast has rocked Somalia’s southern port city of Kismayo, one of the first of such blasts since Somali and foreign forces seized control of the area, Press TV reports.

According to locals, the explosion targeted Somali soldiers reportedly killing an unknown number of soldiers on Tuesday.

The al-Shabab militants have claimed responsibility for the blast.


On Monday, a US-led assassination drone attack killed at least 13 people in the area.

Last week, al-Shabab militants withdrew from their last major stronghold in Kismayo, before Somali and Kenyan troops took control of the strategic city.

The loss of Kismayo, which provided al-Shabab with lucrative revenues via control of its Indian Ocean port, could prove a final nail in the coffin of the militant group.

Somalia has not had a functioning government since 1991, when warlords overthrew former dictator Mohamed Siad Barre.

The weak Western-backed transitional government in Mogadishu has been battling al-Shabab fighters for the past five years and is propped up by thousands of African Union forces from Uganda, Burundi, and Djibouti.

Press TV