3 days of mourning in Somalia after bomb kills 70

[October 05, 2011]  MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) -- Mourners transported coffins on top of cars Wednesday as hundreds made their way to funerals across Somalia's capital, a day after al-Qaida-linked militants killed at least 70 people in their deadliest single bombing.

The thunderous blast Tuesday covered the city in dust more than a half-mile (800 meters) away and left blackened corpses sprawled amid burning vehicles. The militant group known as al-Shabab immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, which also left dozens wounded with burns and amputated limbs.

"May Allah put them in hell," one Somali woman sobbed as a young man tried to comfort her. She then collapsed near the coffin of her dead son that was placed by a sand grave.

Sadiya Omar, who lost her husband in Tuesday's bombing, left the scene of the funeral before he was interred saying it was more than she could bear.

"The world will get no peace while killers like al-Shabab are still here," she cried, her tears dripping through her black veil.

President Sheik Sharif Sheik Ahmed declared three days of mourning and vowed late Tuesday that his government would put in place security measures to avert future bombings. His government is supported by some 9,000 African Union peacekeepers but they only control the capital.

"I'm sure the crime they committed against the Somali people will not go unpunished," he said of the al-Shabab militants. "God will punish them and the government will take appropriate measures to save the Somali people from those dangers."

A truck loaded with drums of fuel exploded Tuesday outside the Ministry of Education on one of central Mogadishu's busiest streets, where students and their parents were registering for scholarships offered by the Turkish government. It was the deadliest single bombing in Somalia by the Islamist insurgents.

Al-Shabab said it was striking government officials and foreigners -- referring to AU peacekeeping troops supporting the U.N.-backed government.

"It shows their barbarism and how hell-bent they are to hit the public where it hurts most," he said. "We can certainly say their ideology is directed at annihilating Somali people. What they're targeting is the education."

The U.N. Security Council called the attack a "heinous crime." In Washington, White House press secretary Jay Carney said it was a "despicable and cowardly act."

Although the Islamic fighters made what they called a "tactical withdrawal" from their bases in Mogadishu amid an AU offensive in August, they had vowed to carry out devastating suicide attacks.

Rescuers rushed scores of victims with burns and severed limbs to Medina Hospital, said nurse Ali Abdullahi. Even in a city beset by war and anarchy for two decades, the bombing horrified medical workers.

"It is the most awful tragedy I have ever seen," he said. "Imagine -- dozens are being brought here minute by minute. Most of the wounded people are unconscious and others have their faces blackened by smoke and heat."

Duniya Salad sobbed over her brother's burned body after he died while undergoing treatment. "They killed him before he started university! Why was he killed? Damn to al-Shabab," she said.

At least 70 people were killed and 42 wounded, said Ali Muse, chief of Mogadishu's ambulance service.

"The explosion has not only affected the targeted place, but even passer-by people and car passengers died there. The death toll may increase and we are still carrying many dead bodies," he said. "It is the worst tragedy I have ever seen in the capital."

Maj. Gen. Fred Mugisha, the commander of the African Union Mission to Somalia force, known as AMISOM, said the attack targeted several Somali government institutions.

The suicide bomber detonated the explosives after the vehicle rammed a checkpoint outside a compound housing several government ministries, Mugisha said.

[Associated Press; By ABDI GULED]

Associated Press writer Malkhadir M. Muhumed in Nairobi, Kenya and Anita Snow at the United Nations contributed to this report.

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