The death toll from two car bomb
explosions in Somalia’s capital, Mogadishu, has risen to 231, AP
reports. The attack has become one of the deadliest in the recent
history of the country beset by Islamist insurgency.
Medics are attempting to help
hundreds of victims, many of whom have been burned beyond
recognition, AP added.
The first blast happened near the
Safari Hotel, close to Somalia’s Foreign Ministry. The blast area
lies in the center of the city where government offices, hotels,
restaurants, and shops are located, police said.
The second explosion took place in
the city’s Madina district hours later, according to police.
The attacks happened just two days
after the head of US Africa Command was in Mogadishu to meet with
Somalia’s president, Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed.
No group has claimed
responsibility for the attack so far. However, similar assaults in
the country have been blamed on fighters from Islamic extremist rebel
group Al-Shabaab.
The group controlled Mogadishu
from 2006 until August 2011, when African Union (AU) and Somali
forces pushed them out of the capital. The extremists have launched
regular attacks on the city since 2011.
Al-Shabaab has repeatedly targeted
army bases and communities across the southern and central parts of
the country.
The deadliest incident in the
recent decade until now was an attack on the Transitional Federal
Government’s ministerial complex in Mogadishu in 2011, when a
suicide bomber drove a truck loaded with explosives into the
building, killing at least 100 people. Al-Shabaab claimed
responsibility for the attack.
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