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| A soldier is seen next to the wreckage of car that was damaged during the suicide attack in Mogadishu on Saturday. |
At least 79
people are dead and 149 more injured after a massive car bomb exploded at a
busy intersection on the outskirts of Somalia's capital, Mogadishu, on
Saturday, according to a government official.
Government spokesman Ismael Mukhtar also earlier told the media that the attacker drove his vehicle into the "Ex-control Afgoye"
checkpoint, a well-known junction that links the south of Somalia to the
capital.
Mukhtar added that university students were among the dead.
The attack happened during rush hour in the Somali capital
at about 8 a.m. local time, and civilians and soldiers are among the dead,
police said.
Police conduct security searches at the checkpoint, but
there is also a taxation office located nearby and the area is heavily
populated with civilians and security forces.
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| Nurses from Mogadishu's Madina Hospital push a wounded person on a stretcher. |
Police have warned that the death toll could rise as many of
the wounded have been rushed to hospitals.
Images from the scene showed multiple wrecked vehicles with
shards of twisted metal nearby as well as a minibus marked with blood.
Turkey's Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu confirmed two
Turkish citizens had died in the attack.
"May Allah's mercy be upon our 2 citizens and innocent
Somali brothers&sisters who lost their lives in the heinous terrorist
attack," Çavuşoğlu wrote on his Twitter account. He added Turkey would
continue to stand with Somalia in the fight against terror.
Saturday's attack came two weeks after at least five people
were killed in a seven-hour battle at a hotel popular with lawmakers and
security officials in the Somali capital.
In February, the group Al-Shabaab claimed responsibility for
a car bombing at a crowded shopping
mall that left at least 10 dead. It was also behind three car bombings last November that
killed at least 52 people with about 100 more injured.
It is just the latest in a string of attacks in recent years
in the Horn of Africa nation, many of which have been claimed by the Al-Shabaab
Islamist militant group.
Following is a list of some of the deadliest since the
Shabaab were ousted from Mogadishu in 2011:
– 2019
– March 1:
At least 20 people are killed in a siege in Mogadishu, which
saw Al-Shabaab insurgents battling security forces for nearly 24 hours. The
attack began on February 28 with a car bomb blast at a major hotel, then other
fighters stormed a building housing a restaurant.
– 2018
– December 22:
A double car-bomb attack near the presidential palace in
Somalia kills 20. November 9: Twin car bombings and a suicide attack near a
popular hotel in Mogadishu frequented by politicians claim the lives of at
least 41 people.
February 23:
At least 38 people are killed in two car bomb attacks
targeting the presidential palace and a hotel in the capital. They are claimed
by Shabaab.
– 2017
– October 28:
A car bomb explodes outside the entrance of the Nasa Hablod
Hotel 2 in the north of the capital, followed by a minibus loaded with
explosives going off at a nearby intersection. Five gunmen then rush into the
hotel where security services kill two attackers and three others are captured.
At least 27 people are killed in the attack, claimed by the Shabaab. The police
chief and head of intelligence lose their jobs.
October 14:
A truck packed with explosives blows up in Hodan, a bustling
commercial district in the city’s northwest, killing 512 people and injuring
295. There is no claim of responsibility.
February 19:
A car bomb explodes in a busy intersection in Mogadishu,
killing 39 people. No one claims responsibility but it takes place as Shabaab
fighters threaten a “vicious war” against the new Somali president, Mohamed
Abdullahi Mohamed.
January 25:
At least 28 people die in a coordinated attack involving two
car bombs and an armed assault by Shabaab fighters on the Dayah Hotel near the
Somali parliament and state house.
– 2016
– December 11:
More than 20 people are killed when a truck loaded with
explosives blows up near the capital’s port in an attack claimed by Shabaab.
February 29:
At least 30 people are killed and about 60 are wounded in
twin bombings in the southwestern city of Baidoa, claimed by the Shabaab.
– 2015
– February 20:
A twin suicide attack by Shabaab fighters on the Central
Hotel kills at least 25 people, including two MPs.
– 2013
– April 14:
A nine-man suicide attack squad blasts its way into
Mogadishu’s main court complex in a rampage that leaves 29 civilians dead,
while a separate bomb attack kills five more.
– 2012
– January 24:
The Shabaab claims a suicide attack that kills 33 soldiers
at a military base housing Ethiopian peacekeeping troops in central Somalia.
– 2011
– October 4:
At least 82 people die and 150 are injured in a truck
bombing at the ministerial complex of the transitional government. It is the
first attack claimed by the Shabaab since it was pushed out of Mogadishu.
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