A twin bombing in the heart of Mogadishu on Saturday took lives of 189 innocent people, that made the incident the most deadly attack in Somalia since 2007, a year when al-Qaeda-linked militant group began its insurgency.
Mogadishu officials fear the death toll will continue to climb after Saturday’s truck bomb, which targeted a busy street near key ministries. The Aamin ambulance service tweeted that the twin bombing terror attack was the most antihuman incident over the ten-year history of al Shabaab’s (the Islamist militant group) atrocities in Mogadishu.
The terror attack and the death of at least 189 people still echoed across the city, the bewildered families wandered in the rubble of buildings, looking for missing relatives. Mogadishu hasn’t seen anything like this, admit the local residents.
Islamists in Mogadishu strike again
So far, no one had claimed responsibility for the attack as of Sunday afternoon, but it is widely believed to have been carried out by al Shabaab whose leaders are trying to contain the insurgency. The jihadist cell had lost most of the territory it once controlled and was focusing on attacking African Union Mission in Somalia (Amisom) bases. But in recent months it has regrouped and staged several high-profile attacks, including in Mogadishu.
According to the director for the International Crisis Group Rashid Abdi, the twin bomb attack on Saturday is a clear signal that al Shabaab is not down and out; indeed it is escalating the war.
