11 Dead as a Car Bomb Detonated outside Mall in Mogadishu

Emergency rescue staff carry the body of a victim on a gurney at the scene of a car-bomb attack on February 4, 2019 in Somalia capital Mogadishu’s Hamarwayne District.

Mogadishu, Feb 4 , A car bomb exploded at a shopping mall in Somalia’s capital on Monday, killing 11 people and wounding 10 in an attack.

The blast occurred in Mogadishu’s Hamarweyne district, a busy area with shops and restaurants. “Several dead people were removed from a wrecked building at the blast scene. So far death toll is 11 civilians and 10 others injured,” police officer Mohamed Hussein said.

A Reuters witness saw one dead person at the scene, where four cars burned and a restaurant was destroyed. Al Shabaab frequently carries out bombings in Mogadishu and other parts of Somalia against government and other targets. The group is trying to oust the Western-backed central government and establish its own rule based on its strict interpretation of sharia law. Al Shabaab’s militants also carry out attacks outside Somalia. Its latest assault in neighbouring Kenya, a suicide and gun attack at an office and hotel complex in the capital Nairobi last month, killed 21 people.

Ibrahim Jama, a witness, said explosion rattled windows of several nearby business buildings. Al-Shabaab has claimed responsibility for the attack.
The Al-Qaeda-affiliated terror group was also responsible for three car bombings last November that that killed at least 52 people with about 100 more injured.Since 2006, the group has carried out several attacks in Mogadishu killing international aid workers, journalists, civilian leaders, and peacekeepers, as well as Somalia’s government and military targets.It wants to turn Somalia into a fundamentalist Islamic state, according to the Council on Foreign Relations.

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