Nairobi: A powerful explosion killed at least 30 people in the Somali capital of Mogadishu, police said, Thursday.
Islamic extremist group Al-Shabab claimed that a hotel was the intended target, but a police officer said militants detonated a bomb while trying to assassinate a judge.
The car bomb went off near the residence of Appeals Court chief Judge Abshir Omar, and security forces stationed outside the judge’s house fought off gunmen who tried to force their way inside, police officer Mohamed Hussein said. Hussein also said that more than 35 people have been injured in the skirmish.
Shortly after the detonation, at least four gunmen running on foot opened fire at nearby buildings and business, sparking clashes with security forces stationed nearby and hotel guards, he said. Two witnesses said the blast ripped off part of the roof of Omar’s house.
Al-Shabab is considered the deadliest Islamic extremist group in Africa. The Al-Qaida-linked group said the Maka Almukarramah hotel, not the judge’s house nearby, was the intended target.
Another witness, Sabir Abdi, said the hotel suffered significant damage and several people inside were injured. Dozens of cars were on fire along Maka Almukarramah Road, which is in a busy part of Mogadishu where restaurants and hotels are located.
Many of victims of Thursday’s attack suffered horrific injuries and local hospitals were said to be struggling to cope with causalities.
The militant group, which opposes Somalia’s federal government and wants to impose sharia law, has carried out many deadly attacks inside Somalia and elsewhere in the region, including in neighbouring Kenya.
It was behind the deadliest attack in Somalia’s history, a massive truck bombing that killed well over 500 people in Mogadishu in October 2017.