At least 65 people are dead after a massive car bomb exploded at a busy intersection on the outskirts of Somalia’s capital Mogadishu on Saturday, a government official says.<\/p>\n
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At least 65 people are dead after a massive car bomb exploded at a busy intersection on the outskirts of Somalia’s capital Mogadishu on Saturday, a government official says.<\/p>\n
Government spokesman Ismael Mukhtar added that university students were among the dead.<\/p>\n
The attacker drove his vehicle into the “Ex-control Afgoye” checkpoint, a well-known junction that links the south of Somalia to the capital, Mukhtar told CNN.<\/p>\n
Earlier, Mukhtar said the blast also injured at least 60 others.<\/p>\n
The attack happened during rush hour in the Somali capital at about 8 a.m. local time, and both civilians and soldiers are among the dead, police say.<\/p>\n
Police conduct security searches at the checkpoint, but there is also a taxation office located nearby and the area is heavily populated with civilians and security forces.<\/p>\n
Police have warned that the death toll could rise as many of the wounded have been rushed to hospitals.<\/p>\n
Al-Shabaab has claimed responsibility for the attack. Since 2006, the Al-Qaeda-affiliated terror group has carried out repeated attacks in Mogadishu against different targets — killing international aid workers, journalists, civilian leaders and peacekeepers — as well as Somalia’s government and military targets.<\/p>\n
It wants to turn Somalia into a fundamentalist state.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
At least 65 people are dead after a massive car bomb exploded at a busy intersection on the outskirts of Somalia’s capital Mogadishu on Saturday, a government official says. At least 65 people are dead after a massive car bomb exploded at a busy intersection on the outskirts of Somalia’s capital Mogadishu on Saturday, a …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":20249,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"facebook_108372464460192_245495985553329":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8465","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world"],"yoast_head":"\n