The death toll in an attack on Saturday at a busy intersection in the Somali capital Mogadishu has risen to 100, President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud said on Sunday.
“So far, the number of dead has reached 100 and 300 wounded, and the number of both dead and wounded continues to rise,” he said after visiting the bombing site.
Two cars laden with explosives were detonated minutes apart near the busy Zobe intersection, followed by gunfire in an attack on Somalia’s Ministry of Education.
The afternoon blasts shattered windows of nearby buildings, threw up shrapnel and clouds of smoke and dust.
The attack took place at the same busy intersection where a truck loaded with explosives exploded on October 14, 2017, killing 512 people and injuring more than 290.
Describing the incident as “story,” Mohamud said, “It’s the same place and the same innocent people are involved.”
“That is not right. God willing, they will not be able to commit another Zobe incident,” he said, referring to the Islamist group al-Shabaab.
– ‘Total war’ –
The jihadists have been trying to overthrow the fragile, foreign-backed government in Mogadishu for about 15 years.
Its fighters were driven out of the capital by an African Union force in 2011, but the group still controls swaths of land and continues to carry out deadly attacks on civilian and military targets.
In August, the group launched a 30-hour gun and bomb attack on the popular Hayat Hotel in Mogadishu, killing 21 and wounding 117.
Mohamud, elected in May, vowed to wage an “uncompromising war” on the Islamists after the August siege.
In September, he urged citizens to stay away from areas controlled by jihadists and said the armed forces and tribal militias would step up offensives against them.
Al-Shabaab remains a strong force despite multinational efforts to weaken its leadership.
The group claimed responsibility for an attack on a hotel in the port city of Kismayo last week that killed nine and wounded 47 others.
Like its neighbors in the Horn of Africa, Somalia is suffering from the worst drought in more than 40 years. Four failed rainy seasons have wiped out livestock and crops.
The conflict-torn nation is considered one of the most vulnerable to climate change but is particularly ill-equipped to deal with the crisis as it battles the deadly Islamist insurgency.
