# The bomb attack on the president's convoy in Mogadishu, 18 March 2025 > The 18 March 2025 bomb attack on President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud's convoy in Mogadishu: what happened, al-Shabaab's claim, the dead, the detention of journalists and the reactions. Source page: https://calankii.com/en/history/attack-on-president-convoy-mogadishu-2025/ Last checked: 2026-11-12 Publisher: Calankii (https://calankii.com) ## In short On 18 March 2025, during [al-Shabaab](/en/history/al-shabaab/)'s counter-offensive in Middle [Shabelle](/en/economy/farming-and-harvests/), a bomb exploded beside the convoy of President [Hassan Sheikh Mohamud](/en/people/hassan-sheikh-mohamud/) in Mogadishu. This page records the attack as the sources report it. The fighting around it is covered in [The offensive against al-Shabaab, 2022 to 2025](/en/history/offensive-against-al-shabaab-2022-2025/). ## The attack The Associated Press reported that a roadside bomb went off near the presidential palace on Tuesday 18 March, right after the president was driven out of the palace grounds in a convoy heading to the main airport. He was going to Middle Shabelle to oversee military operations against al-Shabaab, and was unharmed. The Information Ministry called the bombing a "cowardly act of desperation" ([*The Week*, PTI/AP, 19 March 2025](https://www.theweek.in/wire-updates/international/2025/03/19/fgn3-somalia-roadside-bomb.html)). The Media Line placed the blast in Hamar-Jajab district and said the device had been planted in a roadside building ([The Media Line, 19 March 2025](https://themedialine.org/mideast-daily-news/somalia-and-african-union-condemn-terrorist-attack-on-presidents-convoy)). Al-Shabaab said in a statement on its Telegram channel: "Our fighters targeted a convoy of vehicles carrying Hassan Sheikh Mohamud as they were leaving the presidential palace." Reuters reported that hours later state media showed the president in Adan Yabaal district, in Middle Shabelle, and that it was the first attack to target him directly since 2014, during his first term ([Reuters, via Yahoo News, 18 March 2025](https://www.yahoo.com/news/somali-militants-target-presidential-convoy-142207941.html)). ## The dead and the journalists A Reuters journalist saw the bodies of four people near the palace (Reuters, 2025). Witnesses quoted by the Associated Press counted two or three (*The Week*, 2025). Wikipedia, drawing on later reports, gives at least 10 dead, seven of them security personnel, and 20 injured ([Wikipedia, Attempted assassination of Hassan Sheikh Mohamud](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attempted_assassination_of_Hassan_Sheikh_Mohamud)). The Committee to Protect Journalists reported that the journalist Mohamed Abukar Dabashe was killed; his body was found in a collapsed building near the site. It said armed police raided the offices of Risaala Media Corporation about 20 minutes after it broadcast footage of the scene, ordered its channels off air and held its reporters for about two hours, and that at least 17 other journalists were briefly detained at the site. A police spokesperson told the organisation that no arrests had been made and that officers were verifying journalists' identities ([CPJ, March 2025](https://cpj.org/2025/03/somali-journalist-killed-in-al-shabaab-bombing-at-least-22-others-arrested-for-reporting-attack/)). ## Reactions The African Union Commission chairperson, Mahmoud Ali Youssouf, called the bombing a "desperate attempt" by al-Shabaab to undermine Somalia's leadership (The Media Line, 2025). The British Embassy in Mogadishu said: "The UK remains a steadfast partner of the Somali government" (*The Week*, 2025). ## Sources differ - **Deaths.** Four bodies seen by Reuters; two or three counted by witnesses (AP); at least 10 in Wikipedia's later total. - **Journalists detained.** At least 22 in CPJ's count; the police said no arrests were made (CPJ). ## Read the primary sources yourself - Committee to Protect Journalists, "Somali journalist killed in Al-Shabaab bombing, at least 22 others arrested for reporting attack" (2025): [article](https://cpj.org/2025/03/somali-journalist-killed-in-al-shabaab-bombing-at-least-22-others-arrested-for-reporting-attack/). - Reuters, "Somali militants target presidential convoy in bomb attack, president safe" (2025): [article](https://www.yahoo.com/news/somali-militants-target-presidential-convoy-142207941.html). --- I want to help with this: email hello@calankii.com. Fix this page: email hello@calankii.com with the page link and your source.