MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) — A
huge explosion from a truck bomb killed 20 people in Somalia's capital, police
said Saturday, as shaken residents called it the most powerful blast they'd
heard in years.
The explosion appeared to target
a hotel on a busy road in Hodan district and at least 15 people were injured,
police Capt. Mohamed Hussein said. Security forces had been trailing the truck
after it raised suspicions, he said.
Police said people were trapped
in the rubble of the Safari Hotel, which was largely destroyed in the
explosion. The hotel is close to Somalia's foreign ministry. Rescue workers
were at the scene.
The Somalia-based extremist
group al-Shabab recently stepped up attacks on army bases across south and
central Somalia. While there was no immediate claim of responsibility for
Saturday's blast, al-Shabab often targets high-profile areas of Mogadishu with
deadly bombings.
Gunshots could be heard at the
site, and ambulance sirens wailed across the capital, which has been under
tight security with military-manned checkpoints.
The explosion left a trail of
destruction across a busy intersection, with several bodies and bloodied
slippers and shoes. Windows of nearby buildings were shattered. Overturned cars
lay in the street, burning. A large plume of smoke rose nearby.
"There was a traffic jam
and the road was packed with bystanders and cars," said Abdinur Abdulle, a
waiter at a nearby restaurant. "It's a disaster," he said sadly.
The blast occurred two days
after the head of the U.S. Africa Command was in Mogadishu to meet with
Somalia's president, and two days after the country's defense minister and army
chief resigned for undisclosed reasons.
The U.S. military has stepped up
drone strikes and other efforts this year against the al-Qaida-linked
al-Shabab, which is also fighting the Somali military and over 20,000 African
Union forces in the country.
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