Car bomb at busy Somali market intersection kills at least 100, president says

  • President says at least 100 dead, 300 injured
  • Saturday’s attack was deadliest in years
  • Al-Qaeda-linked al-Shabaab claims responsibility

MOGADISHU, Oct 30 (Reuters) – At least 100 people have been killed and 300 killed by two car bombs at the Somali Ministry of Education next to a busy market intersection, President Hassan Sheikh Mohamed said on Sunday. People were injured and warned the death toll could rise.

Saturday’s attack was the deadliest since a truck bomb exploded at the same intersection in October 2017, killing more than 500 people.

Al-Qaeda-linked Islamist group al-Shabab claimed responsibility, saying the ministry was at the center of a “war of ideas” that used a Christian-based syllabus to teach Somali children. Members of the security forces included the dead and wounded, its statement emailed to the media said.

Al-Shabaab, which seeks to overthrow the government and establish its own rule based on extreme interpretations of Islamic law, has carried out frequent attacks in Mogadishu and elsewhere.

The first explosion hit the Ministry of Education around 2pm on Saturday. A second attack occurred minutes later, as ambulances arrived and people gathered to help the victims.

Mohamed Moalim, who owns a small restaurant near the intersection, said his wife and mother of six, Fardawsa Mohamed, rushed to the scene to try to help after the first explosion.

“We couldn’t stop her,” he said. “She was killed by the second explosion.”

President Mohammed said some of the wounded were in serious condition and the death toll could rise.

“We were slaughtered … including mothers with children in their arms, fathers with health problems, students sent to study, businessmen struggling with family life,” he said after a tour of the site.

K5 intersections are often crowded with people buying and selling everything from food, clothing and water to foreign currency and khat, a mildly numbing leaf. But Sunday was quiet, with first responders still clearing blood from streets and buildings.

Somalia’s international partners condemned the attack and offered condolences to the affected families.

“These senseless attacks on innocent civilians, including women and children, serve only as a reminder of the group’s brutality against its people,” EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said in a statement. and reveal the true hypocrisy of its intentions.”

African Union Commission President Moussa Faki Mohamed urged the international community to “redouble our efforts to ensure strong international support for Somali institutions in their fight against terrorist groups”.

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director-general of the World Health Organization, tweeted that the organization is ready to provide support to governments to care for the wounded.

Backed by the U.S. and allied local militias, the president launched an offensive against the group, albeit with limited results.

Abdullahi Aden said his friend Ilyas Mohamed Warsame was killed on a trip to visit family before his three-wheeled “tuk tuk” taxi returned to his home in the UK.

“We recognized the license plate of the tuk-tuk, which is now rubble,” Aden said.

“Exhausted and desperate, we found his body in hospital last night,” he said. “I can’t shake the image in my head.”

Additional reporting by Sabine Siebold in Berlin; Writing by Elias Biryabarema; Editing by William Mallard, Alexandra Zavis, Nick Macfie and Philippa Fletcher

Our Standard: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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