Hundreds killed as massive lorry bomb explosion devastates Somali capital

THE death toll from the most powerful bomb blast yet witnessed in Somalia’s capital rose to 231 last night, with more than 275 injured, making it the deadliest single attack ever in this Horn of Africa nation, a senator said.

Abshir Abdi Ahmed cited doctors at hospitals he had visited in Mogadishu.

Many of the bodies in mortuaries had not yet been identified, he said.

Officials feared the toll would continue to climb from Saturday’s lorry bomb that targeted a busy street near key ministries.

Doctors struggled to assist horrifically wounded victims, many burned beyond recognition.

“The hospital is overwhelmed by both dead and wounded,” said Dr Mohamed Yusuf, the director of Medina hospital.

“This is really horrendous, unlike any other time in the past.”

Ambulance sirens echoed across the city as bewildered families wandered in the rubble of buildings, looking for missing relatives.

“In our 10-year experience as the first responder in Mogadishu, we haven’t seen anything like this,” the ambulance service tweeted.

“There’s nothing I can say. We have lost everything”, wept Zainab Sharif, a mother-of-four who lost her husband.

She sat outside a hospital where he was pronounced dead after hours of efforts by doctors to save him.

President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed declared three days of mourning and joined thousands of people who responded to a desperate plea by hospitals to donate blood.

“I am appealing to all Somali people to come forward and donate,” he said.

Angry protesters gathered near the scene of the attack as Somalia’s government blamed the al-Qaida-linked al Shabab extremist group for what it called a “national disaster”.

However, al-Shabab, which often targets high-profile areas of the capital with bombings, had yet to comment.

“They don’t care about the Top: the scene of the explosion of a truck bomb in the centre of Mogadishu which has claimed the lives of over 200 people. The body of a man killed in the blast is removed by rescuers lives of Somali people, mothers, fathers and children,” Prime Minister Hassan Ali Khaire said.

“They have targeted the most populated area in Mogadishu, killing only civilians.”

The United States condemned the bombing, saying “such cowardly attacks reinvigorate the commitment of the United States to assist our Somali and African Union partners to combat the scourge of terrorism”.

The US military has stepped up drone strikes and other efforts this year against al Shabab, which is also fighting the Somali military and more than 20,000 African Union forces in the country.

The United Nations special envoy to Somalia called the attack “revolting”.

It occurred two days after the head of the US Africa Command was in Mogadishu to meet with Mr Abdullahi Mohamed.