Qatar sends aid to Somalia; flies injured to Doha for treatment
Toll from terrorist bombing in Mogadishu climbs to 81
On the directives of His Highness the Amir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani, a Qatari Air Force plane carrying medical aid arrived yesterday in Somalia to support those who were injured as a result of the recent terrorist bombing in the capital Mogadishu.
The medical and relief delegation and the Qatari medical aid were received by Somali Prime Minister Hassan Ali Khairy, Minister of Internal Security Mohamed Abou Bakr Eslo and Somali ambassador to Qatar Abdul Razzaq Farah and Qatar’s ambassador to Somalia Hassan Hamza Hashem.
The aid included medical materials, accompanied by an integrated medical and relief team from the Qatar Search and Rescue Group. The Qatari medical team participated in treating the injured, and a number of the wounded were transported on the Amiri Air Force plane to complete the necessary treatment in Qatar. The mission was conducted by the Qatar Fund for Development (QFFD), in cooperation with the Standing Committee for Rescue and Relief Works and Humanitarian Aids.
The Qatari assistance to the Somali brothers included four tonnes of medical materials and first aid. The integrated medical and relief team comprised 25 members from various medical and relief specialties of the Qatari International Search and Rescue Group at Lekhwiya Force and Hamad Medical Corporation.
According to AFP, the death toll from the massive car bomb in the Somali capital has risen to 81, as rescue workers pursued their search for the missing.
The bombing on Saturday at a busy intersection in Mogadishu was the country’s deadliest attack in two years.
“The overall number of the dead stands at 81 currently. Two more people died from their injuries,” Ismail Muktar, a spokesman for Somalia’s information ministry, told AFP yesterday.
Muktar said the death toll could climb further as rescue operations entered a third day.
Around two dozen people were listed as missing after the attack, but 12 have been located – five of them dead – and the rest remain unaccounted for, he said.
Some 125 people were injured in the blast.
At least 16 of those killed were students from the capital’s private Banadir University, who had been travelling on a bus when the car bomb detonated.
The attack was the biggest to hit Somalia since a truck exploded in 2017 near a fuel tanker in Mogadishu, creating a fireball that killed over 500 people.