Somalia -- Colleagues of a young Somali soccer player killed in a suicide bombing remembered him as an energetic player who endured many challenges to play the sport he loved in a country torn apart by war.
Abdi Salaan Mohamed Ali, an under-20 international player, was killed Monday when a suicide bomber detonated an explosives-laden car at a police station in the Somali capital. At least eight people were killed and 35 were wounded. Two of Ali's teammates, Mahmoud Amin Mohamed and Siid Ali Mohamed Xiis, were wounded in the blast.
The country's most dangerous militant group, al-Shabab, claimed responsibility.
Ali was a member of the Dakadaha championship team based in Somalia's capital. He is survived by his pregnant wife.
"His death saddened all of us. He was a young, energetic and skillful player," team secretary Abdullahi Bashir Nur told The Associated Press on Tuesday.
