Reuters December 06, 2018 16:28 169 MOGADISHU: Nine Somali soldiers including two generals were killed on Thursday by a blast just outside the capital Mogadishu, militants and an army official said. Extremist group Al-Shabaab claimed responsibility, saying it had destroyed a military pick-up truck carrying the generals and their seven bodyguards near Dhanaane village just outside Mogadishu on Thursday afternoon. Abdiasis Abu Musab, Al-Shabaab’s military operation spokesman, identified the slain generals as Omar Aden and Abdi Ali. "We destroyed their pick-up with a roadside bomb near Dhanaane village," he told Reuters. A military official who identified himself as Captain Mohamed confirmed to Reuters the two generals and their guards had been killed while others were injured. Al-Shabaab has for years been fighting to topple Somalia"s Western-backed central government and install its own rule based on a strict interpretation of sharia law. The country has been gripped by insecurity and lawlessness since the early 1990s.