After the heavy car bomb attack in the Somali capital Mogadishu, the death toll has risen to at least 73. That said the head of the medina hospital, Mohammed Yusuf, on Saturday of the dpa. So far, 54 wounded have been brought to his facility. Before that, there had been talk of more than 20 dead. In total there are said to be around 90 injuries.
A suspected suicide bomber detonated his truck loaded with explosives in a busy area of the city, police spokesman Abdulahi Adan said. Government spokesman Muchtar Omar said, „The area was full of people going to school or shopping in the city when the horrific attack occurred.“
Eyewitnesses spoke of an image of devastation. Another police spokesman said two minibuses with schoolchildren on board were severely damaged in the early morning explosion. Eyewitnesses reported torn bodies.
Detonation was very powerful
In his first statement shortly after the explosion, government spokesman Omar assumed that the victim balance should continue to increase in view of the force of the detonation. According to the police, three of the fatalities include three Turkish citizens.
They were in their SUV with their bodyguard when a truck, apparently loaded with explosives, blew up in the air at a checkpoint. According to preliminary information, the Turkish victims are engineers who were involved in the renovation of the road link between Mogadishu and Afgoye.
It was initially not clear who was responsible for the attack. The radical Islamic Al-Shabaab militia has repeatedly carried out bomb attacks. The Sunni fundamentalists rule large areas in the south and center of Somalia and carry out attacks again and again. They are fighting the Somali government supported by the United Nations and want to establish an Islamist regime in the East African country.
The U.S. Armed Forces are using air strikes to help the government fight the group and train soldiers. An African Union (AU) force is also providing support. Somalia, which lies on the Horn of Africa, has been suffering from unrest and insecurity for years. In 1991, militias overthrew dictator Siad Barre, but then fought against each other.
Al-Shabaab, an ally of the extremist organization al-Qaeda, has carried out several attacks not only in Somalia, but also in Kenya and Uganda. It is not uncommon for her not to commit to her actions. Al-Shabaab’s most serious attack to date killed almost 600 people in Mogadishu in October 2017. At that time, an explosive-laden vehicle had exploded near a tanker truck.
