At least 100 killed in car bombings in Somalia’s capital Mogadishu, president says
- President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud says nearly 300 other people are wounded, as al-Shabab extremist group claims responsibility for attack
- The explosions hit the country’s education ministry in the city centre, close to a busy intersection where a truck bombing killed more than 500 people in 2017
The number of people killed in an attack on Saturday at a busy intersection in the Somali capital Mogadishu has risen to at least 100, President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud said on Sunday.
“So far, people who died have reached 100 and 300 are wounded, and the number for both the death and wounded continues to increase,” he said after visiting the bombing location, where a truck bombing at the same spot five years ago killed more than 500.
Two cars packed with explosives were detonated minutes apart near the busy Zobe junction, followed by gunfire in an attack targeting Somalia’s education ministry.
“We ask our international partners and Muslims around the world to send their medical doctors here since we can’t send all the victims outside the country for treatment,” he said.
The al-Qaeda-linked al-Shabab extremist group, which often targets the capital and controls large parts of the country, claimed responsibility, saying it targeted the education ministry. It claimed the ministry was an “enemy base” that receives support from non-Muslim countries and “is committed to removing Somali children from the Islamic faith”.
