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At least 79 dead in massive Somalia car bombing

At least 79 people were killed and 149 wounded after a car bomb detonated during rush hour in Somalia’s capital. The bombing occurred at a busy intersection on the outskirts of Mogadishu at around 8 a.m. on Saturday, according to CNN. Government spokesman Ismael Mukhtar said that the perpetrator drove the explosive-laden vehicle into a […]

By Zach Halaschak · Washington Examiner
Published December 28, 2019 2:38pm EST
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At least 79 dead in massive Somalia car bombing
A truck carries wreckage of car used in car bomb in Mogadishu, Somalia, Saturday, Dec, 28, 2019.A police officer says a car bomb targeting a tax collection center has detonated at a security checkpoint during the morning rush hour in Somalia's capital. | (Farah Abdi Warsameh/AP)

At least 79 people were killed and 149 wounded after a car bomb detonated during rush hour in Somalia’s capital.

The bombing occurred at a busy intersection on the outskirts of Mogadishu at around 8 a.m. on Saturday, according to CNN. Government spokesman Ismael Mukhtar said that the perpetrator drove the explosive-laden vehicle into a checkpoint.

A victim of the attack is carried on a stretcher
A civilian who was wounded in suicide car bomb attack is helped to be taken to hospital in Mogadishu, Somalia, Saturday, Dec. 28, 2019. A car bomb exploded at a busy security checkpoint in Somalia’s capital Saturday morning, a government spokesman said.


Mukhtar said that university students are among those who were killed in the attack, for which al Qaeda affiliate

al Shabaab has already claimed credit. Al Shabaab is an Islamist terrorist group that wants to turn Somalia, an already war-torn and failed nation, into a fundamentalist state.

The death toll is feared to rise as some of the more than 149 wounded people could succumb to their injuries. Photos from Mogadishu show the destruction from Saturday’s attack, including destroyed buildings, mangled cars, and bloodied Somalis being carried from the chaos.

Destruction from bomb blast
Somalis salvage goods after shops were destroyed in a car bomb in Mogadishu, Somalia, Saturday, Dec. 28, 2019. A truck bomb exploded at a busy security checkpoint in Somalia’s capital Saturday morning, authorities said. It was one of the deadliest attacks in Mogadishu in recent memory.
Victims of the Somali blast
A civilian who was wounded in suicide car bomb attack is helped to be taken to hospital in Mogadishu, Somalia, Saturday, Dec. 28, 2019. A police officer says a car bomb has detonated at a security checkpoint during the morning rush hour in Somalia’s capital.

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Africa Bombing Somalia Terrorism
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