Mogadishu Blast: What We Know So Far

A man runs from a massive explosion Sunday in front of the Safari Hotel in Mogadishu, Somalia. SAID YUSUF WARSAME / EPA

A massive truck bomb detonated in Somalia's capital city, Mogadishu on Saturday 14 October, 2017. Ambulance sirens echoed across the city as shocked families wandered in the debris of buildings, looking for missing relatives.
"In our 10-year experience as the first responder in #Mogadishu, we haven't seen anything like this," the Aamin Ambulance service tweeted.

Photos from the scene. In our 10 year experience as the first responder in #Mogadishu, we haven't seen anything like this. pic.twitter.com/cNxeDD86u6

— Aamin Ambulance (@AaminAmbulance) October 15, 2017

• At least 300 people believed to have been killed in Saturday's double car bombing in Mogadishu, making it the deadliest incident in Somalia's modern history.
• Somalia's Ministry of Information said 300 people remained in hospitals after the October 14 attack.
• No one has claimed responsibility for the attacks
• Al-Shabab earlier this year vowed to increase its attacks after both the Trump administration and Somalia’s recently elected president announced new military efforts against the group.
• Dr Mohamed Yusuf, the director of Mogadishu’s Medina hospital, said his staff had been “overwhelmed by both dead and wounded. This is really horrendous, unlike any other time in the past.”
• Investigators will seek to establish the source of the military-grade explosives. One source suggested they had been stolen from Amisom, the much-criticised African Union peacekeeping mission, which has about 20,000 troops in the country.
• The US mission to Somalia said: “Such cowardly attacks reinvigorate the commitment of the United States to assist our Somali and African Union partners to combat the scourge of terrorism.”
• Officials also confirmed that two people were killed in a second bomb attack in the Madina district of the city.
• UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres tweeted that he was "sickened" by the attacks.
• The President declared three days of mourning for the victims of the blast.

#Somali President @M_Farmaajo donates his blood to help injuries of yesterday's barbaric attack from terrorists Al-Shabaab pic.twitter.com/OP0E3oQcag

— Abdirahman O. Osman (@engyarisow) October 15, 2017

Further reading:
BBC
CNN
The Guardian