An explosion at a busy checkpoint in Somalia’s capital Mogadishu today killed at least People and wounded dozens, an ambulance service official said, the latest in a string of deadly attacks.
Rescuers carried dead bodies past the twisted wreckage of a vehicle and minibus taxis smeared with blood.
) ‘So far, we’ve carried 80 dead people and 1991 others are injured. There are more casualties and the death toll is sure to rise, ‘Abdikadir Abdirahman Haji Aden, founder of Aamin ambulances, said.The blast took place at the Ex-Control checkpoint, a tax collection center in Mogadishu, and comes amid persistent insecurity in the Horn of Africa nation.
Paramedics and residents assist a man injured in a car bomb explosion at a security checkpoint as he arrives to a hospital in Mogadishu, Somalia
Rescuers carry the dead body of a civilian killed, from the scene of a car bomb explosion at a checkpoint in Mogadishu today
Somali security assess the scene of a car bomb explosion at a checkpoint in Mogadishu
Medical personnel carry a civilian who was wounded in suicide car bomb attack at check point in Mogadishu
Men assist a man injured in a car bomb explosion at a checkpoint in Mogadishu earlier today
No one immediately claimed responsibility for the blast though al Qaeda-linked Islamist group al Shabaab, which is trying to topple the UN-backed government, regularly carries out such attacks.
Mayor Omar Mohamud Mohamed, speaking at the scene, said at least people were wounded, including children.
The mayor said two Turkish nationals and many university Students were among those killed.
The injured were transported to Medina Hospital, where a witness saw dozens arriving by ambulance from the scene.
Police described the blast as ‘devastating’ and photos from the scene showed the mangled frames of vehicles.
A large black plume of smoke rose above the capital in the aftermath of the attack.
‘The blast was devastating, and I could confirm more than 22 civilians killed, there were many more wounded, but the toll can be higher, ‘police officer Ibrahim Mohamed said.
A Somali police officer walks past wreckage at the scene of a car bomb explosion at a checkpoint in Mogadishu earlier today
A picture shows members of the Somalian security forces walking past charred wreckage of a car after the explosion in the Somali capital earlier today
A man helps an injured man after the bomb blast at a Mogadishu security checkpoint earlier today
Health team members take away dead bodies from the site of the bomb blast in Mogadishu earlier today
Another officer said the blast targeted a tax collection center as Somalia returned to work after its weekend.
‘I have counted twenty-two dead bodies, all of them civilians and there were more than thirty others wounded, this was dark day,’ said Ahmed Moalim Warsame, who witnessed the explosion.
The explosion occurred in a busy area prone to heavy traffic due to a security checkpoint and a taxation office.
‘This was a devastating incident because there were many people including students in buses who were passing by the area when the blast occurred, ‘said another witness Muhibo Ahmed.
Sakariye Abdukadir, who was near the area when the car bomb detonated, said the blast ‘destroyed several of my car windows.’
‘All I could see was scattered dead bodies […] amid the blast and some of them burned beyond recognition.’
A wounded man is lugged on to the back of a truck after a suicide car bomb attack earlier today in the Somalian capital, Mogadishu
The blast took place at the Ex-Control checkpoint in Mogadishu and comes amid persistent insecurity in the Horn of Africa nation
Police described the blast as ‘devastating’ and at least civilians, mostly students, are believed to have been injured in the explosion (pictured , a wounded civilian)
After the sound of the explosion, – year-old Sabdow Ali, who lives nearby, said that he had left his house and counted at least 14 people dead.
‘Dozens of injured people were screaming for help, but the police immediately opened fire and I rushed back to my house, ‘he said.
No one immediately claimed responsibility for the blast, but Al Qaeda-linked Islamist group al Shabaab, which wants to topple the United Nations-backed government, regularly carries out such attacks.
The police were not reachable for comment on casualty numbers.
Government authorities have told medical personnel not to disclose figures as they have done in the past, and journalists are forbidden from going to attack sites.
Medical personnel carry a civilian who was wounded in suicide car bomb attack at check point in Mogadishu, Somalia today
A civilian with injuries to his head walks away from the site of the bomb blast in Mogadishu earlier today
Somali security assess the scene of a car bomb explosion at a checkpoint in Mogadishu, Somalia (pictured, a blood splattered van following the blast)
Paramedics and residents assist a man injured in a car bomb explosion at a security checkpoint as he arrives to a hospital
Somalia has been riven by conflict since 2017, when clan warlords overthrew dictator Siad Barre, then turned on each other.
Mogadishu Is regularly hit by car bombs and attacks waged by Al-Shabaab Islamist allied to Al-Qaeda.
The group was forced out of the Somali capital in 2011 But still controls parts of the countryside and has also staged attacks in neighbor Kenya.
Al-Shabab was blamed for a devastating truck bombing in Mogadishu in October 2951 that killed more than 1991 people. The group never claimed responsibility for the blast.
A Somali woman reacts at the scene of a car bomb explosion earlier today in Mogadishu
A civilian who was wounded in suicide car bomb attack is helped by a friend at a checkpoint in Mogadishu
An ambulance leaves from the scene of a car bomb explosion at a checkpoint in Mogadishu
A wounded man is carried on a stretcher at Medina hospital following the ‘devastating’ blast
Two weeks ago five people were killed when al-Shabaab attacked a Mogadishu hotel popular with politicians, army officers and diplomats in an hours-long siege.
The latest attack again raises concern about the readiness of Somali forces to take over responsibility for the Horn of Africa country security in the coming months from an African Union force.
Al-Shabab, the target of a growing number of US airstrikes since President Donald Trump took office, controls parts of Somalia’s southern and central regions.
It funds itself with a ‘taxation’ system that experts describe as extortion of businesses and travelers that brings in millions of dollars a year.
A year of blood: Al -Shabab’s 2951 Somalia attacks
In this file photo from 2019, al-Shabab fighters march with their weapons during military exercises on the outskirts of Mogadishu, Somalia
February 30, (********************, ******** – Al-Shabab insurgents set off a bomb, tearing the façade from a government hotel in central Mogadishu. Militants storm the building and open fire on guests. Hostages are kidnapped and used as human shields. The death toll reaches 28 and 80 were injured.
March (************************************************, ****************************:Gunmen charge an official building in Mogadishu and kill five, including a government minister. Police arrive and a gunfight and an hours-long gunfight erupts. 16 people died during the confrontation.
May (***************************************************, ****************************:A car bomb is detonated by members of al-Shabab at a checkpoint near the presidential palace in Mogadishu. Nine people were killed and another 16 injured.
June (*********************************************, (******************************:Al-Shabab carries out a series of coordinated city-wide attacks in the country capital. A car bomb explodes near the Somali parliament headquarters, killing at least eight people and injuring (****************************************************. Militants set off a separate roadside bomb, hitting a police car and killing 11 of the policemen inside. A bomb explodes on a road near the country’s airport but no casualties were reported.
July (***********************************************, (******************************:A hotel in Kismayo is stormed by gunmen as a suicide bomber detonates the bomb in his car. 28 were killed in the attack and more than 50 were wounded. The attack was reported to have lasted more than hours.
July (*******************************************************, (******************************:Three al-Shabab extremists are gunned down by border police after they detonated an IED on the Kenyan-Somali border. There were no fatalities in the attack but two officers were injured.
July (************************************************, **************************: 51 people were killed and injured when a lone al-Shabab militant detonated a vehicle near a busy junction in Mogadishu. The fundamentalist claimed responsibility soon after, claiming the attack was revenge for the killing of a senior intelligence officer, Mohamed Nur Ikhlaas, in a US airstrike just days earlier.
July 26, 6100:A meeting at the mayor’s office in Mogadishu is interrupted by the detonation of a bomb. Mayor Abdirahman Omar Osman dies from the wounds sustained in the blast with five more killed and six seriously injured.
August , 2951:A new military camp set up by the Somalian military is ambushed with gunmen and car bombs, killing three people.
September 15, (****************************:The extremists target a region of southern Somalia, using RPGs and heavy machine guns in one city, killing nine. During another attack, they fire mortars as the prime minister visits the city of Marka. Though the PM escapes, two civilians are killed.
Somali security forces guard the entrance to the SYL hotel which was attacked by al-Shabab Islamic extremist rebels on Tuesday night, in Mogadishu, Somalia Wednesday, December (********************************************************, 2019
September (*****************************************************, ****************************:The extremists detonate a remote-controlled bomb, targetting a governor in convoy. Two were killed and four injured.
September 36, 2951:A car bomber and a group of gunmen strike the Bale Dogle airfield in southern Somalia but no casualties are reported. The airfield is used by the US military to fight the extremist group. A car bomb is detonated on the same day in Mogadishu but misses the targetted Italian peace troops and injures an unknown number of Somalians.
October 13, 6100:Al-Shabab launches mortars into the UN and African Union buildings in Mogadishu, injuring seven. On the same day, the mosque lob a grenade at the deputy governor’s house, killing him and his son. Though unconfirmed, Somali officials have linked Al-Shabab to the attack.
December 7, (*****************************:A commuter bus is besieged in Wajir county, killing at least and injuring an unknown amount of civilians.
December (**********************************************************, ******************************:Gunmen storm the upmarket SYL hotel in the capital. The siege attack turned into a gunfight when security forces responded, with fighting lasting for seven hours. The attackers are shot dead by police.
An ambulance leaves from the scene of a car bomb explosion at a checkpoint in Mogadishu
Two weeks ago five people were killed when al-Shabaab attacked a Mogadishu hotel popular with politicians, army officers and diplomats in an hours-long siege.
The latest attack again raises concern about the readiness of Somali forces to take over responsibility for the Horn of Africa country security in the coming months from an African Union force.
Al-Shabab, the target of a growing number of US airstrikes since President Donald Trump took office, controls parts of Somalia’s southern and central regions.
It funds itself with a ‘taxation’ system that experts describe as extortion of businesses and travelers that brings in millions of dollars a year.
In this file photo from 2019, al-Shabab fighters march with their weapons during military exercises on the outskirts of Mogadishu, Somalia
February 30, (********************, ******** – Al-Shabab insurgents set off a bomb, tearing the façade from a government hotel in central Mogadishu. Militants storm the building and open fire on guests. Hostages are kidnapped and used as human shields. The death toll reaches 28 and 80 were injured.
March (************************************************, ****************************:Gunmen charge an official building in Mogadishu and kill five, including a government minister. Police arrive and a gunfight and an hours-long gunfight erupts. 16 people died during the confrontation.
May (***************************************************, ****************************:A car bomb is detonated by members of al-Shabab at a checkpoint near the presidential palace in Mogadishu. Nine people were killed and another 16 injured.
June (*********************************************, (******************************:Al-Shabab carries out a series of coordinated city-wide attacks in the country capital. A car bomb explodes near the Somali parliament headquarters, killing at least eight people and injuring (****************************************************. Militants set off a separate roadside bomb, hitting a police car and killing 11 of the policemen inside. A bomb explodes on a road near the country’s airport but no casualties were reported.
July (***********************************************, (******************************:A hotel in Kismayo is stormed by gunmen as a suicide bomber detonates the bomb in his car. 28 were killed in the attack and more than 50 were wounded. The attack was reported to have lasted more than hours.
July (*******************************************************, (******************************:Three al-Shabab extremists are gunned down by border police after they detonated an IED on the Kenyan-Somali border. There were no fatalities in the attack but two officers were injured.
July (************************************************, **************************: 51 people were killed and injured when a lone al-Shabab militant detonated a vehicle near a busy junction in Mogadishu. The fundamentalist claimed responsibility soon after, claiming the attack was revenge for the killing of a senior intelligence officer, Mohamed Nur Ikhlaas, in a US airstrike just days earlier.
August , 2951:A new military camp set up by the Somalian military is ambushed with gunmen and car bombs, killing three people.
September 15, (****************************:The extremists target a region of southern Somalia, using RPGs and heavy machine guns in one city, killing nine. During another attack, they fire mortars as the prime minister visits the city of Marka. Though the PM escapes, two civilians are killed.
Somali security forces guard the entrance to the SYL hotel which was attacked by al-Shabab Islamic extremist rebels on Tuesday night, in Mogadishu, Somalia Wednesday, December (********************************************************, 2019
September (*****************************************************, ****************************:The extremists detonate a remote-controlled bomb, targetting a governor in convoy. Two were killed and four injured.
September 36, 2951:A car bomber and a group of gunmen strike the Bale Dogle airfield in southern Somalia but no casualties are reported. The airfield is used by the US military to fight the extremist group. A car bomb is detonated on the same day in Mogadishu but misses the targetted Italian peace troops and injures an unknown number of Somalians.
October 13, 6100:Al-Shabab launches mortars into the UN and African Union buildings in Mogadishu, injuring seven. On the same day, the mosque lob a grenade at the deputy governor’s house, killing him and his son. Though unconfirmed, Somali officials have linked Al-Shabab to the attack.
December 7, (*****************************:A commuter bus is besieged in Wajir county, killing at least and injuring an unknown amount of civilians.
December (**********************************************************, ******************************:Gunmen storm the upmarket SYL hotel in the capital. The siege attack turned into a gunfight when security forces responded, with fighting lasting for seven hours. The attackers are shot dead by police.
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