Tuesday, October 4, 2011

At least 65 killed in Somali capital blast

Somalia's al Qaeda-linked rebels struck at the heart of the capital Mogadishu on Tuesday, killing at least 65 people with a truck bomb in the group's most deadly single attack since launching an insurgency in 2007.

Witnesses said a truck exploded at the gate of a compound housing four government ministries in the K4 (Kilometre 4) area of Mogadishu, where students had gathered to sit exams.

"We have carried 65 dead bodies and 50 injured people," ambulance coordinator Ali Muse told Reuters. "Some are still lying there. Most of the people have burns."

Al Shabaab insurgents, who claimed responsibility for today's bombing, pulled most of their fighters out of Mogadishu in August allowing government troops and African Union soldiers to seize much of the coastal capital, but the rebels had vowed to attack government installations.

Paddy Ankunda, spokesman for the African Union force (AMISOM) in Somalia, said students and government soldiers were among the dead.

A reporter said he had seen nine bodies at the compound, which is in an area of the capital under the control of government forces and African Union troops from the east African countries of Uganda and Burundi.

The blast destroyed kiosks near the compound and burned the facades of government buildings. Debris from the explosion landed hundreds of meters away.

Scores of people with burns were seen walking to a nearby hospital and police were trying to evacuate more students trapped inside the damaged buildings.Muse said it looked as though the truck had been packed with petrol and explosives. He said students, soldiers and civilians were among the dead.

"Al Shabaab carried out that attack," a spokesman for the insurgents told reporters. "Our target was the ministries."

Al Shabaab has used suicide bombers to devastating effect in past attacks on African Union compounds, government buildings and a medical graduation ceremony.

A suicide bomber killed three government ministers in the December 2009 attack on the graduation ceremony in Mogadishu and a fourth minister died from his wounds two months later. A female suicide bomber killed the interior minister in June.Al Shabaab is fighting to oust the UN-backed transition government that it sees as a puppet of the West and wants to impose its own harsh version of sharia law throughout the Horn of Africa nation.