Truck bomb claims dozens of victims in Somali's capital

MOGADISHU, Somalia -- Al-Qaida-linked militants launched their deadliest single bombing in Somalia on Tuesday, killing 70 people and demonstrating how the group that blocked aid to famine victims can still mount devastating violence even after most of its fighters fled the capital in August.

A truck loaded with drums of fuel exploded outside the Ministry of Education on one of central Mogadishu's busiest streets, where students and their parents were registering for scholarships offered by the Turkish government.

Rebels of the al-Shabab militant group immediately claimed responsibility for the bombing, saying it was striking government officials and foreigners -- referring to African Union peacekeeping troops supporting the U.N.-backed regime.

Although the Islamic fighters made what they called a "tactical withdrawal" from their bases in Mogadishu amid an A.U. offensive in August, they had vowed to carry out devastating suicide attacks.

A city aflame

The blast covered the city in dust more than a half-mile away and left blackened corpses sprawled amid burning vehicles. One woman used a blue plastic bucket to pour water on a charred and smoldering body.

Rescuers rushed scores of victims with burns and severed limbs to Medina Hospital, said nurse Ali Abdullahi. Even in a city beset by war and anarchy for two decades, the bombing horrified medical workers.

"It is the most awful tragedy I have ever seen," he said. "Imagine -- dozens are being brought here minute by minute. Most of the wounded people are unconscious and others have their faces blackened by smoke and heat."

Duniya Salad sobbed over her brother's burned body after he died while undergoing treatment. "They killed him before he started university! Why was he killed? Damn to al-Shabab," she said.

At least 70 people were killed and 42 wounded, said Ali Muse, chief of Mogadishu's ambulance service.

"The explosion has not only affected the targeted place, but even passer-by people and car passengers died there. The death toll may increase and we are still carrying many dead bodies," he said. "It is the worst tragedy I have ever seen in the capital."

Maj. Gen. Fred Mugisha, the commander of the African Union Mission to Somalia force, known as AMISOM, said the attack targeted several Somali government institutions.

The suicide bomber detonated the explosives after the vehicle rammed a checkpoint outside a compound housing several government ministries, Mugisha said.