By Mohammed Dhaysane

MOGADISHU, Somalia (AA): At least four people, including soldiers and civilians, were killed and more than 35 wounded on Friday when a double explosion targeted a busy market in northeastern Somalia, officials said, with other sources reporting a higher death toll.

Abdukadir Abdullahi, director general for the Armo town hospital, told local media that the explosions hit a market in the village of Af-urur in the Bari region of the Horn of Africa country.

“My hospital received more than four dead people and 35 wounded. Some of the wounded had life-threatening injuries,” he added.

Local businessman Hassan Nur, 30, told Anadolu Agency that the first bomb blast targeted civilian traders of khat, a popular legal plant stimulant, at the market.

“The first bomb exploded minutes after the khat arrived, then seconds later another bomb exploded,” Nur said.

Local journalists in Basaso, capital of the Bari region, told Anadolu Agency that the death toll had risen to 15 people, including eight soldiers and seven civilians.

No group has yet claimed responsibility for the attack, but the Somali-based insurgent group al-Shabaab had claimed recent attacks in the country.

Af-urur is a small village located in the northeastern Barri region in Somalia’s autonomous Puntland region.

[Archive Photo: Scene after suicide attack at restaurant near presidential palace in Mogadishu on 2 January 2015. Photographer: Nour Gelle Gedi/AA]