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More than 70 dead and dozens injured after morning rush-hour blast in Somali capital
More than 70 dead and dozens injured after morning rush-hour blast in Somali capital
A truck bomb has exploded in central Mogadishu, killing at least 76 people including many university students on their way to class, and injuring dozens more, in the deadliest attack on the Somali capital for over two years.
A truck bomb has exploded in central Mogadishu, killing at least 76 people including many university students, and injuring dozens more in the deadliest attack on the Somali capital for more than two years.
The bomber hit during the Saturday morning rush-hour, the start of Somalia’s working week. Most of the dead were civilians, mayor Omar Mohamud Mohamed told reporters at the blast site, including two Turkish citizens.
The bomber struck during the Saturday morning rush hour, the start of Somalia’s working week. The mayor, Omar Mohamud Mohamed, told reporters at the blast site, that most of those killed were civilians, including two Turkish citizens.
“We will confirm the exact number of the number of the dead later but it is not going to be small. Most of the dead were innocent university students and other civilians,” he said.
“We will confirm the exact number of the number of the dead later but it is not going to be small,” he said. “Most of the dead were innocent university students and other civilians.”
The attack targeted a busy area where a tax collection and security checkpoint caused a traffic bottleneck, leading to high casualty levels.
The attack targeted a busy area where a security checkpoint had caused a traffic bottleneck, leading to high casualty levels.
“I saw many dead bodies lying on the ground,” witness Mohamed Abdi Hakim told the AP. “Some of those dead were police officers, but most of them were students.”
“I saw many dead bodies lying on the ground,” a witness, Mohamed Abdi Hakim, said. “Some of those dead were police officers, but most of them were students.”
The toll is likely to rise, authorities warned, because dozens of people were injured, many of them seriously. People rushed to hospitals to search for missing family and friends, searching the wards, then looking at dozens of bodies.
Officials said the toll was likely to rise because dozens of people had been injured, many of them seriously. People rushed to hospitals to search for missing family and friends, searching the wards then looking at dozens of bodies.
“The number of casualties we have confirmed is 76 dead and 70 wounded, it could still be higher,” the director of the private Aamin Ambulance service, Abdukadir Abdirahman Haji, told AFP.
Abdukadir Abdirahman Haji, the director of the private Aamin ambulance service, said: “The number of casualties we have confirmed is 76 dead and 70 wounded. It could still be higher.”
There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but extremist group al Shabaab has carried out similar attacks in the past. The al-Qaida linked group was pushed out of Mogadishu nearly a decade ago, but launches regular attacks on high profile targets inside the city.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but the extremist group al-Shabaab has carried out similar attacks in the past. The al-Qaida-linked group was pushed out of Mogadishu nearly a decade ago, but it launches regular attacks on high-profile targets in the city.
This year alone they have targeted a shopping mall, the city mayor’s office and high end hotels. Saturday’s bomb comes just two weeks after a hours-long hotel siege in which five people were killed.
This year alone it has targeted a shopping mall, the city mayor’s office and high-end hotels. Saturday’s bomb came two weeks after a hours-long hotel siege in which five people were killed.
The pace of attacks has raised concerns about the readiness of Somali forces to take over responsibility for the country’s security, with control due to be transferred from an African Union force in coming months.
The pace of attacks has raised concerns about the readiness of Somali forces to take over the country’s security, with control due to be transferred from an African Union force in the coming months.
Al Shabaab is now able to make its own explosives, its weapon of choice, United Nations experts monitoring sanctions on Somalia said earlier this year. The group had previously relied on military-grade explosives captured during assaults on an African Union peacekeeping force.
Earlier this year, UN experts monitoring sanctions on Somalia said al-Shabaab was now able to make its own explosives – its weapon of choice. The terrorist group had previously relied on military-grade explosives captured during attacks on an African Union peacekeeping force.
The group was blamed for the deadliest single attack in the country’s history, in October 2017 in Mogadishu, when a truck bomb exploded next to a fuel tanker, creating a fire-storm which killed nearly 600 people.
The group was blamed for the deadliest single attack in the country’s history, in October 2017, when a truck bomb exploded next to a fuel tanker in Mogadishu, creating a fire-storm which killed nearly 600 people.
Perhaps because it was so devastating, al Shabaab never claimed responsibility. It also did not claim a 2009 suicide bombing of a graduation ceremony for medical students, which sparked a big public backlash.
Al-Shabaab never claimed responsibility. It also did not claim to be behind a 2009 suicide bombing of a graduation ceremony for medical students, which sparked a major public backlash.
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A truck bomb has exploded at a busy security checkpoint in Mogadishu, killing at least 73 people.
The attack during rush-hour on Saturday morning was one of the deadliest attacks in the Somali capital in recent memory.
The toll was likely to rise because scores of people were taken to hospital, Ismail Mukhtar, a government spokesman, said.
Mohamed Yusuf, director of Madina hospital, said it had received 73 bodies.
Abdiqadir Abdirahman, the director of the Aamin ambulance service, said more than 50 others had been wounded.
The mayor, Omar Mohamud Mohamed, speaking at the scene, said most of those killed were university and other students returning to class. Two Turkish nationals and many university students were among those killed, police said.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the blast, but al-Shabaab often carries out such attacks. The al-Qaida-linked group was pushed out of Mogadishu several years ago but continues to target high-profile areas such as checkpoints and hotels in the coastal city.
Al-Shabaab was blamed for a truck bombing in Mogadishu in October 2017 that killed more than 500 people. The group never claimed responsibility for the blast and some analysts said it did not dare claim credit as its strategy of trying to sway public opinion by exposing government weakness had backfired.
The latest attack has raised concerns about the readiness of Somali forces to take over responsibility for the country’s security from an African Union force in the coming months.
Al-Shabaab, the target of a growing number of US airstrikes since Donald Trump became president, controls parts of Somalia’s southern and central regions. It funds itself with a taxation system that experts describe as extortion of businesses and travellers that brings in millions of dollars a year.
