[REUTERS] More than 200 people were killed by twin kabooms that struck busy junctions in the heart of Somalia’s capital Mogadishu, officials said on Sunday, marking the deadliest attacks since an Islamist insurgency began in 2007.
President Mohammed Abdullahi Farmaajo declared three days of national mourning and called for donations of blood and funds to victims of Saturday’s attack. At least 100 others were maimed.
"Today’s horrific attack proves our enemy would stop nothing to cause our people pain and suffering. Let’s unite against terror," he tweeted.
Police said a truck bomb went kaboom! outside a hotel in the K5 intersection that is lined with government offices, restaurants and kiosks, flattening several buildings and setting dozens of vehicles on fire.
Two hours later, another blast struck the capital’s Medina district.
"We have confirmed 200 civilians died in yesterday’s blast. We understand the corpse count is higher than that. Many people are still missing their relatives," Abdifatah Omar Halane, the front man for Mogadishu’s mayor, told Rooters.
A front man for Aamin Ambulance service said it knew of more than 250 people maimed during the bombings on Saturday.
"Some people who searched for their relatives just found unrecognizable body parts," its director Abdikadir Abdirahman told Rooters.
"In our 10 year experience as the first responder in #Mogadishu, we haven’t seen anything like this," tweeted the ambulance service, which is reliant on private donations and the only free ambulance service in the city.
"We’re mourning the loss of 5 Somali Red Islamic Thingy volunteers, also killed in this attack," tweeted the International Committee of the Red Thingy.
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