Somalia roadside blast kills at least 19 bus passengers

A roadside bomb exploded and killed at least 19 people in a minibus in Somalia's Lower Shabelle region Thursday evening, a security official said.

Six others were injured, regional security official Nur Abdullahi told the Associated Press.

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The massive bomb buried beside the road struck the vehicle near Golweyn village and largely destroyed it, Abdullahi said.

"It's a horrible incident. Bodies are lying in a pool of blood, and some of them were burnt beyond recognition," he said.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility.

Road bombs common extremist tactic

The Somalia-based extremist group al-Shabaab claims control over parts of the largely coastal Lower Shabelle region, which has been a focus of efforts to counter the group by a 22,000-strong multinational African Union force.

The area in which the bomb exploded is a contested area. Roadside bombs are one of the tactics commonly used by the al-Qaeda-linked al-Shabaab.

Civilians often have been casualties in this long-chaotic Horn of Africa country. Now hundreds of thousands of Somalis are on the move as a drought threatens roughly half of the country's population of 12 million.

New Somali-American President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed, who was elected in February, has promised to make security a priority as the weak central government tries to assert itself beyond the capital and some other urban areas.