The death toll from a truck bombing in Somalia’s capital has risen above 300, the director of an ambulance service said on Monday, as the fragile Horn of Africa nation reeled from the deadliest single attack it’s ever experienced.
More people died of their wounds in the past few hours, said Dr Abdulkadir Adam of Aamin Ambulance service. Funerals have begun, and the government said the death toll is expected to rise in what has become one of the world’s worst attacks in years.
Saturday’s truck bombing targeted a crowded street in Mogadishu, and about 300 others were injured, many with horrific burns. Somalia’s Government is blaming the al-Qaeda-linked al-Shabab, Africa’s deadliest extremist group, which has not commented.
More than 70 critically injured people were airlifted to Turkey for treatment on Monday as international aid began to arrive, officials said. Nervous relatives stood on the tarmac at the airport, praying for the recovery of their loved ones. Overwhelmed hospitals in Mogadishu have struggled to assist other badly wounded victims, many burned beyond recognition. Exhausted doctors struggled to keep their eyes open as the screams from victims or newly bereaved families echoed in the halls.
The attack is one of the deadliest attacks in sub-Saharan Africa, larger than the Garissa University attack in Kenya in 2015, in which 148 died, and the US Embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998, in which about 219 were killed.
In addition to Turkey, Kenya and Ethiopia have offered to send medical aid in response to what Somali’s Government has called a “national disaster,” said Information Minister Abdirahman Osman. Al-Shabab, which for more than a decade has waged war in Somalia, often targets high-profile areas of Mogadishu.