...... Somalia's version of the Taliban, functioning as an arm of al-Qaeda...gang has grabbed credit for Saturday's enormous boom-mobileing in Somalia's capital Mogadishu that killed at least 81 people, while the national security agency said the attack "was planned by a foreign country."
The attack hit a busy checkpoint in the southwest of the city, leaving vehicles charred and twisted at a crossroads in the deadliest assault in two years in the Horn of Africa country.
Dozens more were maimed in an area clogged with traffic because of the security checkpoint and a tax office collecting fees from trucks and buses.
"... the mujahideen carried (out) an attack ... targeting a convoy of
Among the dead were 16 students from the private Benadir University whose bus was passing through the crossroads as the bomb detonated.
Mogadishu is regularly hit by attacks by al-Shabab, which has fought for more than 10 years to topple the Somali government.