Somalia: at least 100 dead in a double car bomb attack in Mogadishu – franceinfo

At least 100 people, including children, were killed in a double car bomb attack on Saturday on a busy thoroughfare in the center of the capital Mogadishu, President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud said on Sunday (October 30th). A total of 300 injured were also recorded. These two assessments could increase. Two cars packed with explosives exploded within minutes of each other in the afternoon near the busy Zobe junction, followed by gunfire in an attack targeting Somalia’s education ministry. The explosions shattered windows of nearby buildings, sending shrapnel and plumes of smoke and dust into the air. The attack took place at the same junction where a truck had exploded on October 14, 2017, killing 512 people and injuring more than 290. “It’s not fair. God willing, they will no longer have the ability to perpetrate a new [attentat, comme celui de Zobe]”, castigated Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, in reference to the jihadists of the Shebab group. This type of attack – which was not immediately claimed – is generally attributed by the Somali authorities to the Shebab jihadist militants who regularly carry out attacks in the capital. and major cities in Somalia. The Islamist group, linked to al-Qaeda, has been fighting the internationally-backed federal government since 2007. It was driven out of major cities – including Mogadishu in 2011 – but remains firmly established in large areas rural areas, particularly in the south of the country. In recent months, Al-Shabaab have increased their activity in Somalia, a poor and unstable country in the Horn of Africa, with in particular a spectacular assault, lasting about thirty hours, at the end of August on a hotel in Mogadishu.In addition to the Al-Shabaab insurrection, Somalia is also threatened by an imminent famine, caused by the worst drought observed for more than 40 years.