Medical personnel carry a civilian who was wounded in suicide car bomb attack at check point in Mogadishu, Somalia, Saturday, Dec, 28, 2019. (AP Photo/Farah Abdi Warsame)
OAN Newsroom
UPDATED 5:10 PM PT — Saturday, December 28, 2019
At least 78 people are dead after a truck bomb exploded at a busy security checkpoint in Somalia’s capital city on Saturday.
The blast occurred during rush hour as citizens returned to work after the weekend. At least 125 people were wounded in what some have called the deadliest attack the area has seen in years.
A soldier stands guard near wreckage of vehicles in Mogadishu after a car bomb in Mogadishu, Somalia, Saturday, Dec. 28, 2019. (AP Photo/Farah Abdi Warsame)
Somalia’s president condemned the incident as a “heinous act of terror.”
“The motive behind such an attack is to terrorize, demoralize the Somalian people and its government,” stated President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed. “The people and its government will never be demoralized from achieving our development goals and the rebuilding of our country.”
No one immediately claimed responsibility for the blast, but the city’s mayor has blamed al-Qaeda linked Islamist group al-Shabaab.
A truck carries wreckage of a car used in a car bomb in Mogadishu, Somalia, Saturday, Dec. 28, 2019. (AP Photo/Farah Abdi Warsame)
