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| A Somali government soldier walks past the scene of a suicide bomb
explosion at the Wadajir market in Madina district of Somalia's capital
Mogadishu. (Reuters) |
A car bomb blast at a marketplace Somalia’s capital Mogadishu has
killed at least 20 people and injured 50 others, said a local Somali
official.
The blast by a car bomb parked
near a restaurant went off at a busy time when shoppers and traders were
gathered inside the market, said district commissioner Ahmed Abdulle.
The powerful blast was the first major attack since Somalia’s new president was elected on Feb.8.
“Someone
had parked the car here and left before it was detonated,” said Mohamed
Haji, a butcher who suffered shrapnel wounds, pointing his finger at a
clothes shop devastated by the blast. Pieces of wood and metal sheets on
the ground were all that remained of the shop.
Women
sobbed and screamed outside the market as rescue workers were
transported bloodied bodies and wounded victims into awaiting ambulance
vehicles.
“It’s a painful carnage.” said Ali Mire, a government soldier who was helping a friend with multiple shrapnel wounds.
The
blast occurred a few hours after Somalia’s extremist rebels, al-Shabab,
denounced the newly elected President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed as an
“apostate” and vowed to continue fighting against his government
Source: Al arabiya
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