SomaliNet Forums

Mohammed Dhore
BBC News, Mogadishu
I arrived at the scene by foot about 30 minutes after the lorry exploded. It was shocking. At least 11 bodies burnt beyond recognition were lying on the ground. The main buildings and surrounding trees were on fire.

First-aid workers were carrying severely wounded people to ambulances. Two people with blood all over their legs were shouting for help.

People came rushing to the scene, but it is hard to identify the bodies. Some people were crying - it was very emotional. Somali government soldiers then began shooting in the air to get the crowds to move as it was rumoured that other suicide vehicles may be in the area. They are stopping and searching all cars. There are no vehicles moving in this area of the city.

Al-Shabab claims deadly Mogadishu blast

A bomb blast outside a government compound in the Somali capital, Mogadishu, has killed at least 70 people and left many others wounded, in one of the country's deadliest ever suicide attacks, officials and witnesses said.

Al-Shabab, the armed anti-government group, claimed Tuesday's blast, which came as the rebels launched attacks in the country's west and south.

An al-Shabab official who spoke to the AFP news agency on condition of anonymity said one of the group's fighters had carried out the attack.

"One of our mujahideen made the sacrifice to kill TFG [Transitional Federal Government] officials, the African Union troops and other informers who were in the compound," said the al-Shabab official.

The blast occurred when a truck blew up after coming to a halt at a security checkpoint at the entrance to the Ministry of Education, said Ali Hussein, a police officer in the Somali capital. After the thunderous blast, blackened corpses were sprawled on the debris-strewn street amid burning vehicles and uniformed soldiers dragged the wounded from the scene.

Mohamed Sheikh Nor, a Somali journalist, told Al Jazeera that several "ministers were coming out of the building just seconds after the explosion"

"It was the worst attack I have ever witnessed," he said.

Scores wounded

Ali Muse, the chief of Mogadishu's ambulance service, told The Associated Press news agency that at least 70 people had died and at least 42 others were wounded.

"The explosion has not only affected the targeted place, but even passers-by and car passengers died there. The death toll may increase and we are still carrying many dead bodies,'' he said.

Ali Abdullahi, a nurse at Medina hospital, said medics were treating people with horrific wounds, including amputated limbs, burns, and patients who became blinded.

"It is the most awful tragedy I have ever seen," he said. "Imagine dozens are being brought here minute by minute. Most of the wounded people are unconscious and others have their faces blackened by smoke and heat."

African Union and government troops deployed heavily to the area and cordoned it off.

Students believed killed

The explosion is thought to have gone off as students were queueing for scholarships offered by Turkey, which recently stepped up its involvement in Somalia and pledged to re-open an embassy in Mogadishu.

Suldan Sarah, the communications director for the Somali president, told Al Jazeera that the majority of the victims were students who were waiting to hear if they had won a scholarship.

"To do a cowardly act like that does not mean you are a force to be reckoned with," he said. "It just means you can commit a mass murder using a suicide bomber. This is not the sign of strength, but rather a cowardly act."

He said the explosion happened outside the checkpoint at the complex of ministries, of which the Ministry of Education is a part. "The security services are working around the clock, and are working within their capabilities, and as such have foiled a number of attempts over the past month [of other attacks]," Sarah said.

If the death toll is confirmed, Tuesday's attack would be the deadliest carried out by al-Shabab since multiple bombings in the Ugandan capital Kampala killed at least 76 people in July 2010.

Is that grandpa's other macawis?

Inaalillaahi waa ina ilayhi raajicuun, koonfureey how much more innocent blood should be spilled goormaad nabad rabtaan dagaalkan dheer goormaad ka daalaysiin, ilaahoow amuuraha usahal

Inaalillaahi waa ina ilayhi raajicuun, koonfureey how much more innocent blood should be spilled goormaad nabad rabtaan dagaalkan dheer goormaad ka daalaysiin, ilaahoow amuuraha usahal

whats happening in somalia has nothing to do with, who is south or who is north. Koonfureey my ass

al-shabaab are a terror group, they have no clan barrier

Is that grandpa's other macawis?

waar it has everything to do with south, alshabab is a group who can only work in an area which is so unstable and inhospitable that is why they are in koonfur and no where else, furthermore any normal person wouldn't support a sick group like this but shabab still have a large following from you guessed it reer koonfur.

allahuakbar!