Bahjo Mohamed, Pioneering Light Rail Operator, Dies In Somalia Suicide Bombing

A suicide bombing in Somalia over the weekend killed a young mother who lived in Hopkins for many years.

Bahjo Mohamed died in the bombing that targeted police officers in downtown Mogadishu, the capital of Somalia. At least five officers also died.

Abdirizak Bihi, a friend of Mohamed’s in Minneapolis, says people in the Somali community who never met Mohamed are now grieving her.

“The officers who were in charge were sitting outside and they offered her a chair because she was walking and they knew her,” Bihi said. “Then within a few minutes, this bomb explodes.”

Bihi says he met her when she moved to Hopkins more than 10 years ago. He says the mother of four was a light rail operator for Metro Transit, and one of the first women to do that job wearing a hijab, which made her a role model to many. He says she went back to Somalia in 2018.

“She was also very religious, so she went back over there, she moved there in order for her kids to learn the religion, the culture,” Bihi said. “She was on the phone with her husband two hours prior to the incident.”