Truck bomb’s ‘unspeakable horrors’
SOMALIA: The most powerful bomb blast witnessed in Somalia’s capital killed 276 people with about 300 others injured, the country’s information minister said yesterday, making it the deadliest single attack in the Horn of Africa nation. The toll was expected to rise.
In a tweet, Abdirahman Osman called the attack ‘‘barbaric’' and said countries, including Turkey and Kenya, had already offered to send medical aid. Hospitals were overwhelmed a day after a truck bomb targeted a crowded street near key government ministries, including foreign affairs.
As angry protesters gathered near the scene of the attack, Somalia’s government blamed the al Qaeda-linked al-Shabab extremist group for what it called a ‘‘national disaster’'. However, Africa’s deadliest Islamic extremist group, which often targets highprofile areas of the capital, had yet to comment.
Al-Shabab earlier this year vowed to step up attacks after both the Trump administration and Somalia’s recently elected president announced new military efforts against the group. The Mogadishu bombing is one of the deadliest attacks in sub-Saharan Africa, larger than the Garissa University attack in Kenya in 2015 and the US Embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998.
Doctors at Mogadishu hospitals struggled to assist badly wounded victims, many burned beyond recognition. ‘‘This is really horrendous, unlike any other time in the past,’' said Dr Mohamed Yusuf, the director of Medina hospital.
Inside, bleary-eyed nurses transported a man whose legs had been blown off. He waited as surgeons attended to another badly injured patient. Exhausted doctors struggled to keep their eyes open, while screams from victims and newly bereaved families echoed through the halls.
‘‘Nearly all of the wounded victims have serious wounds,’' said nurse Samir Abdi. ‘‘Unspeakable horrors.’' The smell of blood was strong.
The country’s Somali-American leader, 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.
The US Africa Command said US forces had not been asked to provide aid. A spokesman said that first responders and local enforcement would handle the response and ‘‘the US would offer assistance if and when a request was made’'. – AP
Iraq moves on Kurds
Iraqi state media say federal troops have entered disputed territories occupied by the nation’s Kurds. The move comes three years after Kurdish militias seized the areas outside their autonomous region to defend against an advance by the Islamic State extremist group. AlIraqiya TV says the military, antiterrorist units and federal police have taken control of some areas around the oil-rich city of Kirkuk. It says they advanced without firing a shot. The manoeuvre comes three weeks after Kurds voted for independence in a controversial but symbolic referendum that Baghdad has so far refused to acknowledge. It says the vote organised by the country’s autonomous Kurdish authority was unconstitutional. A commander of the local Kurdish police force says Kurds remain in control of Kirkuk province’s oil wells.
Sessions backs pledge
The US Justice Department is sending a federal hate crimes lawyer to Iowa to help prosecute a man charged with killing a transgender teenager last year. LGBT advocates have long been sceptical of Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ pledge to prosecute acts of violence against transgender people. But the rare move, outlined in recently filed court papers, is a sign he intends to do so even as the Trump administration has taken other steps to erode the rights of transgender people broadly. The case involves 23-year-old Jorge Sanders-Galvez. He is charged with killing 16-year-old Kedarie Johnson in Burlington, Iowa, in March 2016. Authorities have not disclosed a motive. But Johnson’s relatives told local news outlets they believed the shooting was a hate crime.
Migrants rescued
Spain’s maritime rescue service says it has saved 168 migrants from several small boats trying to cross the Mediterranean Sea from North Africa. The service says its ships intercepted nine different boats carrying a total of 168 migrants at the weekend. Many migrants from Africa die trying the perilous voyage to Europe in small craft unfit for the open sea. Those boats often belong to human traffickers.
Flight crew panic
Passengers on an Indonesia AirAsia flight to the holiday island of Bali described a panicked flight crew announcing an emergency and oxygen masks dropping from the ceiling before the airliner turned back to the Australian city of Perth. Flight QZ535 reportedly plummeted 20,000 feet 25 minutes into the flight from Perth on Sunday when a technical issue caused the cabin to lose pressure. It returned safely on Sunday to Perth Airport where many of the 145 passengers spoke to media about the fear and confusion on board. ‘‘The panic was escalated because of the behaviour of staff who were screaming, looked tearful and shocked,’’ passenger Clare Askew said. A passenger named Leah said: ‘‘I actually picked up my phone and sent a text message to my family, just hoping that they would get it. We were all pretty much saying goodbye to each other.’’ Engineers were examining the plane. The plane was in the air for more than an hour. Passengers said they didn’t know what was happening because most of the plane’s onboard announcements weren’t in English.