Over 100 people had been killed and 300 injured in two car bombs that blew up outside the education ministry in the capital of Somalia, Mogadishu, on Saturday, the president of the country declared in a statement early on Sunday.
“Our people who were attacked … included mothers with their children in arms, fathers who had serious medical conditions, students who were off to study, businessmen who were struggling for their families lives,” President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud expressed after visiting the site of the blast.
None claimed responsibility for the attack. However, the president blamed the Islamist group al-Shadaab, which typically avoids declaring responsibility for attacks that results in significant casualties.
The first explosion hit the education ministry near a junction in Mogadishu. The second took off as ambulances reached and people gathered to help the injured.
The explosion wave smashed windows in the vicinity. The tarmac outside the buildings was covered with blood.
The attack took place in the same place as Somalia’s largest bombing, in which almost 500 people were killed in the same month in 2017. In that explosion, a truck bomb blasted outside a busy hotel at the K5 intersection, surrounded by government offices, restaurants and kiosks.
Mohamud expressed his concerns that the number of victims could rise. He had advised the government to supply immediate medical assistance to the victims, some of whom were in serious condition.
