Eleven people were hurt in central Hargeisa when mentally disable man hurled a hand grenade in a busy market on Tuesday morning.
The incident occurred around 10:30 AM in the busy Hadiya Supermarket in the heart of the city, located just minutes away from Telesom center. The injured included men and women who were shopping in the area as well as the mental ill man himself. All eleven were rushed to the nearest hospitals. Doctors told local media the victims sustained minor cuts and some more serious injuries but nothing life threatening.
“It was during the usual traffic rush when I heard a huge explosion then saw a smoke rising. Immediately my mind took me back to the 2008 car-bombings in Hargeisa that targeted the presidential palace, Ethiopian consulate and UN offices. I saw civilians running and I went to the scene after minutes,” Abdiqani Baynah said, a Somalilandpress reporter who witnessed the scene.
Security forces and medical personnel immediately rushed to the incident and took the injured to the hospitals.
Officials are yet to comment on the incident and explain to the concerned civilians how a mentally ill man was able to obtain a grenade.
This is not the first time a man with mental issues has hurt civilians in Hargeisa, in 2009, am unstable man stabbed to death a traffic officer.
Somaliland does not have proper mental health care and facilities other than a small mental health unit operated by the ministry of health and labor in Hargeisa. Many people with psychiatric disabilities and other metal illnesses often roam around the streets.
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