(Mogadishu) The death toll from the suicide attack with a truck packed with explosives on Saturday in central Somalia rose to 21 dead, after the discovery of new bodies in the rubble of buildings blown up by the explosion, said police on Sunday.
The attack at a checkpoint in the town of Beledweyne caused considerable damage to the surrounding buildings, some of which collapsed. Dozens of people remained trapped under piles of bricks and concrete.
“The results of the explosion yesterday [samedi] went from 13 to 21 dead, after the discovery of new bodies under the rubble of buildings and some are burned beyond any possible identification,” Ahmed Yare Adan, a local police officer, said by telephone.
At least 45 people were also injured in this attack, which was not claimed, having targeted a busy district housing businesses and residential buildings.
“People continue to search for missing family members, they don’t know if they are alive or dead,” said Ahmed Yare Adan.
According to Sayid Ali, deputy commander of Beledweyne police station, search and clearance operations were still underway at the scene of the explosion.
Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud offered his condolences and reiterated his commitment to “eliminate” radical Shebab Islamists who are waging an insurgency in the country.
“Incidents like this will never deter us from continuing to eliminate […] terrorists,” he said.
This attack comes at a time when the Somali government admits having suffered “several significant setbacks” in its offensive against the radical Islamists Shebab.
This week he asked the UN for a three-month postponement of the withdrawal of 3,000 personnel from the African Union Transitional Mission in Somalia (Atmis), planned for the end of September.
” Divert attention ”
The Atmis leader condemned the attack, saying it was carried out to “divert attention” from the losses suffered by Shebab after the offensive launched by Mogadishu last year.
“Atmis strongly condemns the hateful attack on innocent civilians,” said Mohamed El-Amine.
The government, supported by the international community, has been fighting for more than 15 years the Shebab insurgency, a group affiliated with Al-Qaeda which says it wants to establish Islamic law in this country in the Horn of Africa.
Elected in May 2022, President Hassan Cheikh Mohamoud promised a “total war” against the Shebab.
Government forces and local clan militias, backed by African Union force and US airstrikes, have been waging a military offensive in the center of the country for more than a year.
Visiting this region, the head of state declared on August 18 that the Shebab would be “eliminated from the entire country” by the end of the year.
Driven out of Somalia’s main cities in 2011-2012, the Shebab remains established in vast rural areas, particularly in the center and south of the country, from where they regularly carry out attacks against security, political and civilian targets.