Somalia's President Mohamed offers $100,000 reward for information on planned terror attacks

The new Somalian president has announced a $100,000 (£80,000) reward for information on anyone planning attacks in the country. Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed made the announcement after visiting survivors of a suicide bombing that killed at least 39 people in the capital Mogadishu on 19 February.

It was the deadliest attack to occur since Mohamed took office after winning a landmark presidential election earlier in February.

No-one claimed responsibility for the bombing. Militant Islamist group Al-Shabaab is often behind attacks that have killed thousands of people in Somalia and neighbouring Kenya.

The group said it was behind mortar blasts that marked the official presidential handover last week. Mohamed deemed his win as "a new beginning for Somalia... it is the start of the war against terrorists".

Who are al-Shabaab militants?

Al-Shabaab, which means 'The Youth', is a Somali terror group affiliated with al-Qaeda and Isis. An offshoot of the Islamic Courts Union – a rival administration to the Transitional Federal Government in Somalia – Shabaab aims to overthrow the Somali government and impose its own version of Islam in the country.

It controlled Mogadishu and the southern region of Somalia from 2006 until 2011, when it was defeated by African Union peacekeepers.

Shabaab often targets Kenya in retaliation for the Linda Nchi military operation, which saw the deployment of Kenyan troops to Somalia to drive out the militants in 2011.

In one of its deadliest attacks, the militants killed 148 people at a university college in Garissa. The terrorists claimed the attack was carried out as the university was "on Muslim land colonised by non-Muslims".