Death toll from blast in Somalia's capital Mogadishu rises to 189
Somali authorities declare 3-days mourning
The death toll from bomb blast outside a hotel in Somalia's capital Mogadishu has risen to 189 with more than 200 injured.
It is the single deadliest attack ever in the Horn of Africa nation, reports The Independent.
A truck bomb exploded outside the Safari Hotel at the K5 intersection, which is lined with government offices, restaurants and kiosks, flattening buildings and setting vehicles on fire, police said. A separate blast struck the Medina district two hours later, the UK daily reports.
More than 200 were injured in the explosion outside of the hotel and hospitals are struggling to cope with the high number of casualties, the daily reports.
Officials feared the death toll would continue to climb.
Many victims died at hospitals from their wounds, Police Captain Mohamed Hussein said.
The Red Cross said four volunteers with the Somali Red Crescent Society are among the dead and warned "this figure may rise as there are a number of volunteers still missing."
Overnight, rescue workers with torch lights searched for survivors trapped under the rubble of the largely destroyed Safari Hotel, which is close to Somalia's foreign ministry. The explosion blew off metal gates and blast walls erected outside the hotel.
President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed declared three days of mourning and joined thousands of people who responded to a desperate plea by hospitals to donate blood for the wounded victims. "I am appealing all Somali people to come forward and donate," he said.
Somalia's government blamed the al-Qaida-linked al-Shabaab extremist group for the attack it called a "national disaster." However, al-Shabaab, which often targets high-profile areas of the capital with bombings, had yet to claim the attack, the Independent reports.
"They don't care about the lives of Somali people, mothers, fathers and children," Prime Minister Hassan Ali Khaire said. "They have targeted the most populated area in Mogadishu, killing only civilians."
Somalia's information minister, Abdirahman Omar, said the blast was the largest the city had ever seen. "It's a sad day. This how merciless and brutal they are, and we have to unite against them," he said, speaking to the state-run radio station.
The United States joined the condemnation, saying "such cowardly attacks reinvigorate the commitment of the United States to assist our Somali and African Union partners to combat the scourge of terrorism."
The US military has stepped up drone strikes and other efforts this year against al-Shabaab, which is also fighting the Somali military and over 20,000 African Union forces in the country.