Police have confirmed that a total of four local footballers died in the explosion that occurred on Friday in Somalia.
Gatekeepers News reports that ten players from the Jubaland Chamber of Commerce and Industry club were heading off for a game at the Kismayo city stadium in southern Somalia when the explosion which was believed to have been caused by a bomb ripped through their bus.
“The players were riding in a bus when the explosion went off, presumably inside the vehicle. There are investigations going on but we presume the device was planted onto the bus,” said police officer Mohamed Sadiq.
According to Sadiq, four football players were died and five others wounded.
A witness, Ibrahim Ahmed said “the blast was huge and it caused devastating fire which burned down the bus, people rushed to remove the dead bodies and wounded players.”
Another witness, Said Adan said: “I saw the burning bus and three dead bodies of the players — this was horrible because football players are not politicians,” added another witness, Said Adan.
Gatekeepers News reports there was no immediate claim of responsibility for the blast in Kismayo, capital of the southern state of Jubaland which borders Kenya.
