MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) — At least a hundred more people were killed in Saturday’s two car bombings at a busy intersection in the capital, Somalia’s president said. Five years ago it killed more than 500.
President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, at the site of the explosions in Mogadishu, told reporters that nearly three hundred other people were wounded. “We ask our foreign partners and Muslims around the world to send their doctors here because we can’t send them all. “sick people outside the country for treatment,” he said.
The al-Qaeda-linked al-Shabab extremist organization, which targets the capital and controls giant portions of the country, claimed responsibility and said it attacked the education ministry. He said the ministry was an “enemy base” receiving help from non-Muslim countries and “is committed to isolating young Somalis from the Islamic faith. “
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Two other people drove away to a basket from the scene of destroyed and broken buildings after a car bomb attack on the Ministry of Education in Mogadishu on October 29, 2022. – Two massive car bomb attacks rocked Somalia’s Ministry of Education in the capital Mogadishu
Al-Shabab does not regularly claim its duty when large numbers of civilians are killed, as in the 2017 explosion, but it was infuriated by a new high-profile government offensive that also aims to shut down its monetary network. The organization said we decided to fight until the country was governed by Islamic law, and we asked civilians to stay away from government areas.
Somalia’s president, elected this year, kept the country at war with al-Shabab “and we won. “
The attack in Mogadishu came on a day when the president, prime minister and other senior officials were meeting to discuss further efforts to counter violent extremism and, in particular, al-Shabab. The extremists, seeking an Islamic state, responded to the offensive by killing prominent leaders of extended families in an apparent effort to deter popular support.
Workers’ security forces and ambulances are stationed near destroyed and broken buildings after a car bomb attack on the Ministry of Education in Mogadishu on October 29, 2022. – Two mass car bombings rocked Somalia’s Ministry of Education in the capital Mog
The attack hit rescuers in Somalia, which has one of the weakest fitness systems in the world after decades of conflict. In hospitals and elsewhere, terrified parents peeked out from under plastic sheets and frame bags, looking for the ones they enjoyed.
Halima Duwane searches for her uncle, Abdullahi Jama. ” We don’t know if he’s dead or alive, but the last time we communicated he was here,” she said through tears.
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The witnesses to the attack were stunned. ” I couldn’t count the bodies on the floor because of the (number) of deaths,” witness Abdirazak Hassan said. He said the first explosion hit the perimeter wall of the Ministry of Education, where street vendors and money changers were located.
An Associated Press reporter at the scene said the explosion occurred outside a busy restaurant at lunchtime. The explosions demolished tuk-tuks and other cars in a domain of many restaurants and hotels.
The Somali Journalists Syndicate, citing colleagues and police officers, said one journalist was killed and two others wounded by the blast as they headed to the scene of the first. Aamin’s ambulance service said the blast destroyed one of its reaction vehicles.
It didn’t take long for explosive-laden cars to return to the high-profile location in Mogadishu, a city full of checkpoints and constantly on alert for attacks.
The U. S. has described al-Shabab as one of al-Qaeda’s deadliest organizations and has targeted it with dozens of airstrikes in recent years. Hundreds of U. S. military workers have returned to the country after former President Donald Trump withdrew them.
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