An explosion near a busy checkpoint in Mogadishu, Somalia, on Dec. 28 killed nearly 80 people, officials said. No group has yet claimed responsibility.
MOGADISHU, Somalia — A giant explosion rocked Somalia’s capital Saturday morning, killing at least 78 people.
The blast, caused by a vehicle packed with bombs, appeared to target the morning rush hour at a busy tax collection center located near one of two checkpoints that control all entry and exit from the city. While no group has yet claimed the attack, the al-Qaeda-affiliated Islamist militia al-Shabab has regularly attacked government institutions around the country.
The director of Medina Hospital said he had received 73 bodies; four more were brought to Digfer Hospital and another to the Somali Sudanese Hospital, their directors confirmed. Mohamed Yusuf, Medina Hospital’s director, said he feared the toll would continue to rise as his teams dealt with dozens of severely injured patients.
A government spokesman, Ismail Mukhtar, said the dead included more than a dozen university students and numerous police officers, and that the blast came from a vehicle laden with explosives. A Somali officer at the Turkish embassy confirmed the deaths of two Turkish nationals who worked for a private company called En-Ez Construction that was working on the road that was attacked.
Feisal Omar
Reuters
Somali security assess the scene of a car bomb explosion at a checkpoint in Mogadishu, Somalia, on Saturday.
Omar Mohamud, Mogadishu’s mayor, told reporters gathered near the blast site that at least 90 civilians, mostly students, had been injured in the explosion. Witnesses described a ghastly scene.
“When the explosion happened, I was coming out of a nearby tea shop. With my own eyes, I have seen pieces of human beings and blood scattered around,” said Osman Abdulle, a police sergeant. “I have collected the bodies of my fellow policemen, who I recognized. I have also seen a university bus reduced to ashes.”
Another witness, Abdisalam Halane, said he had heard the blast and rushed toward it, hoping to help friends in the police force who were stationed at the checkpoint. He counted at least 20 bodies on the ground but said many of them had been ripped apart. “Blood and the remains of bodies were everywhere,” he said.
[‘If I don’t pay, they kill me’: Al-Shabab tightens grip on Somalia with growing tax racket]
Somalia’s government nominally controls Mogadishu, but regular attacks by al-Shabab give the city of 2.5 million people the feel of a contested area. Saturday’s attack was the largest since Oct. 14, 2017, when two truck bombs detonated by al-Shabab killed nearly 600 people in a market near the city center.
Al-Shabab operates extensively throughout rural parts of southern and central Somalia, and is estimated to have around 10,000 fighters. The group’s stated aim is to establish its harsh interpretation of Islamic law across Somalia and to expel all foreign troops from the country.
The U.S. military keeps about 500 personnel in Somalia, largely as part of a mission to train Somali special forces. Some U.S. Special Forces accompany Somali counterparts on ground missions. The U.S. military has carried out more than 60 airstrikes this year, mostly targeting al-Shabab, continuing a three-year uptick since the Trump administration loosened the rules of military engagement in Somalia, allowing for more aggressive use of force.
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2019-12-28 13:10:00Z
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