Hundreds dead after massive truck bomb strikes Mogadishu

At least 231 people were killed and hundreds of others injured after a massive truck bomb on Saturday hit the Somali capital of Mogadish.

The Somali government blamed the militant group linked to Al-Qaida Al-Shabab for the attack, and called it the deadliest for hitting the nation.

The explosion took place outside the Safari hotel, where the rescuers dug through the rubble of the buildings collapsed during the night in search of survivors. Witnesses have described a devastating scene with a large -scale carnage, while doctors worked feverishly to take care of the dead and the injured, very seriously burned.

“The hospital is overwhelmed by dead and injured,” said Dr. Mohamed Yusuf, director of the Medina hospital located near the explosion, at the Associated Press. “We also received people whose members were cut by the bomb. It’s really horrible, unlike any other moment in the past. ”

Photos and videos of the bombing, which took place in a lively street near a section of the city housing foreign embassies, showed collapsed walls, twisted metal and sporadic lights spitting smoke. The Qatari government said its embassy was “seriously damaged” in the strike.

The bombing of trucks in Mogadishu is the deadliest in Somalia led by conflicts so far. Here are other major attacks: https://t.co/wnezlqslj pic.twitter.com/hxuasa85q2

– AFP Africa (@AfPAfrica) October 15, 2017

Family members searched the wreck and waited in local hospitals in the hope of finding parents who survived the attack.

Somali President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed announced three days of mourning. Attacks have received an international conviction, notably from the United States.