Two car bombs exploded Saturday near key government offices in Somalia‘s capital, killing “scores of civilians,” including children, according to the national police. The attack occurred five years after a massive explosion at the same site.
The Mogadishu attack occurred on a day when the president, prime minister, and other senior officials were meeting to discuss combating violent extremism, particularly by the Al-Qaida-affiliated al-Shabab group, which frequently targets the capital.
There was no immediate admission of guilt. Al-Shabab rarely claims attacks that kill a large number of civilians, such as the 2017 blast.
An Associated Press reporter on the scene saw “many” bodies and said they appeared to be civilians on public transportation. He claimed the second blast occurred during lunchtime in front of a busy restaurant. The explosions destroyed tuk-tuks and other vehicles in an area densely populated with restaurants and hotels.
According to the Aamin ambulance service, at least 35 people were injured. According to director Abdulkadir Adan, one of the ambulances responding to the attack was destroyed by the second blast.
“I was only 100 meters away when the second blast happened,” said witness Abdirazak Hassan. “Because of the (number of) fatalities, I couldn’t count the bodies on the ground.”
“The first blast hit the perimeter wall of the education ministry, where there were street vendors and money changers,” he said.
According to the Somali Journalists Syndicate, citing colleagues and police, the second blast killed one journalist and injured two others as they rushed to the scene of the first.
The attack took place at the Zobe junction, which was the site of a massive al-Shabab truck bombing in 2017 that killed over 500 people. According to police, the new attack occurred in the same location as the one in 2017.
Somalia’s government has launched a high-profile new offensive against the extremist group described by the US as one of al-deadliest Qaida’s organizations. President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud has declared “total war” on the extremists, who control large swaths of central and southern Somalia and have been the target of numerous US airstrikes in recent years.
Extremists have responded by assassinating prominent clan leaders, ostensibly to dissuade support for the government offensive.
