Suicide Bomber Kills At Least 12 People as Somalia Readies Vote

The attack targeted a restaurant in Beledweyne, said Mohamed Dahir, a Somali police officer, by phone and comes as the country prepares to hold parliamentary elections Feb. 25 that will decide on the nation’s next president.

In Somalia, clan delegates and state legislatures select lawmakers for the national parliament, who then pick the president.

Somalia is struggling to rebuild after two decades of civil war and amid an insurgency by al-Shabaab, an al Qaeda-linked group that the federal government is fighting with the help of neighboring states, the U.S. and the European Union. 

 Source: Bloomberg