Somalia calls for blood donations after bombing
NAIROBI: Somalia is in desperate need for donated blood to treat survivors of a truck bombing in the capital Mogadishu on Saturday that killed more than 300 people and injured at least 400, a minister said.
The bombing was one of the worst such attacks in Somalia. Officials said it bore the hallmarks of the al-Qaeda-linked al-Shabaab group, but they have not claimed responsibility.
Information Minister Abdirahman Omar Osman said Somalia does not have a blood bank and limitations of its health care system are impeding medical response. Countries including Turkey and Qatar are providing medical assistance.
“We are requesting blood, we are requesting assistance for verifying the dead in order for their relatives to know,” said Osman.
Somalia has been in conflict since 1991, when clan warlords overthrew a dictator then turned on each other. One of the poorest countries in Africa, it faces severe food insecurity and relies on foreign donors to support its institutions and basic services.
Osman said the bodies of more than 100 people buried on Monday “were blown beyond recognition”, but he hoped other bodies could still be identified. Turkish doctors – mainly surgeons and specialists in spine injuries – arrived along with Turkey’s health minister on Monday.
Turkey evacuated 35 critically wounded Somalis to Ankara by plane the same day. An increasingly close ally of Somalia, Turkey opened a $50 million (R668m) military base in the capital last month. Medicine from neighbouring nations Djibouti and Kenya arrived by plane yesterday.