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The simultaneous explosion of the two vehicles took place in the early hours of the Zobe intersection, a busy area of Mogadishu with shops around it. The first investigations by the police indicate that the majority of the victims are civilians and that there are children among them, while many of the injured are in critical condition.
At least 100 people, including children, died in a double car bomb attack on a busy avenue in Mogadishu as indicated this Sunday by the president of Somalia, Hassan Sheikh Mohamud. “So far, the number of people killed has reached 100 and 300 are injured, and the number of both dead and wounded continues to rise,” the president said after visiting the site of the attack.
The two vehicles loaded with explosives they exploded in Mogadishu’s busy Zobe intersection, and the blast followed a gun battle near the Somali Ministry of Education. The explosions on Saturday afternoon blew out windows of nearby buildings and sent shrapnel and clouds of smoke and dust into the air.
The attack happened at the same intersection where an attack took place on October 14, 2017 with a truck loaded with explosives that left 512 dead, in addition to 290 wounded.
This type of attack – which was not immediately claimed – is usually attributed by the Somali authorities to the jihadist militiamen of Al Shabab, who regularly attack the capital and major cities of Somalia.
The jihadists have tried for 15 years overthrow the fragile Somali government, which has international support.
Its fighters were expelled from the capital in 2011 by African Union forces, but the group continues to control extensions of territory rural area and carries out deadly attacks against civilians and the military.
In recent months, these jihadists have increased their activity in Somalia, a very poor country in the Horn of Africa, especially with a spectacular 30-hour assault in late August on a Mogadishu hotel. After this attack, which left 21 dead and 117 wounded, President Hasan Sheikh Mohamud had promised a “total war” to eliminate the Shabab, and urged the population to “stay out” of the areas controlled by the Islamists, since these were to be the object of future government offensives.
The UN Mission in Somalia He has condemned “strongly” the “merciless attack” by Al Shabab and has sent his condolences to the families of the victims. “We strongly support the Somalis against terrorism,” he stressed in a brief message posted on Twitter.
In addition to the shabab insurrection, Somalia is also threatened by an imminent famine, caused by the worst drought recorded in the country for more than 40 years. Across this country, 7.8 million people — that is, half the population — are affected by drought, and 213,000 are in danger of a major famine, according to the UN.
(with AFP)
