Twin bomb blasts on Saturday struck busy junctions in the heart of Somalia’s capital, Mogadishu, killing at least 85 people, making it one of the deadliest attacks since a Muslim insurgency began in 2007.
Somalian President Mohamed Abdullahi Farmaajo declared three days of national mourning, and called for donations of blood and funds to victims of the attack.
Police said a truck bomb exploded outside a hotel in the K5 intersection that is lined with government offices, restaurants and kiosks, flattening several buildings and setting dozens of vehicles on fire.
The explosion appeared to target the Safari Hotel in Hodan District, Police Captain Mohamed Hussein said.
Security forces had been trailing the truck after it raised suspicions, Hussein added.
Police said people were trapped in the rubble of the hotel, which was largely destroyed in the explosion.
The hotel is close to the Somalian Ministry of Foreign affairs.
The explosion left a trail of destruction across a busy intersection, with several bodies and bloodied slippers and shoes. Windows of nearby buildings were shattered. Overturned cars lay in the street, burning. A large plume of smoke rose nearby.
“There was a traffic jam and the road was packed with bystanders and cars,” said Abdinur Abdulle, a waiter at a nearby restaurant.
Two hours later, another blast struck the capital’s Medina District.
“The number of dead has risen to 85. We know some 100 who were injured,” Hussein said, giving combined figures of casualties.
He said the toll was likely to rise.
Police previously said 22 people had died.
Police and emergency workers yesterday searched the rubble of destroyed buildings. They also recovered dozens of corpses the night before, most of which were charred beyond recognition.
Hundreds of people came to the junction in search of missing family members and police cordoned off the area for security reasons.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility, although the militant group al-Shabaab, which is allied to al-Qaeda, stages regular attacks in the capital and other parts of the country.
The group is waging an insurgency against the UN-backed government and its African Union allies in a bid to topple the weak administration and impose its own strict interpretation of Islam.
The militants controlled Mogadishu between 2007 and 2011, but withdrew as fighting raged.
African Union peacekeepers also drove them out of most other territory they controlled.
The blasts occurred two days after the head of the US Africa Command was in Mogadishu to meet with the Somalian president, and two days after the country’s minister of defense and army chief resigned for undisclosed reasons.
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