US condemns ‘cowardly’ attack in Somalia’s capital – By FOX News staff & AP (foxnews.com) / Oct 15 2017
The death toll has risen to 189, with more than 200 people injured, after a truck bomb in Somalia that the U.S. government condemned Sunday as a “cowardly” attack.
“Such cowardly attacks reinvigorate the commitment of the United States to assist our Somali and African Union partners to combat the scourge of terrorism,” the U.S. mission to Somalia said in a statement.
The U.S. military this year has stepped up drone strikes and other efforts this year against the al-Qaida-linked al-Shabab, which is based in Somalia and often targets Mogadishu, the capital.
The International Committee of the Red Cross said four volunteers with the Somali Red Crescent Society were among the dead.
A statement Sunday said “this figure may rise as there are a number of volunteers still missing.”
Hospitals in Mogadishu struggled Sunday to cope with the high number of casualties, security and medical sources said.
Ambulance sirens echoed across the city a day after the blast as bewildered families wandered in the rubble of buildings, looking for missing relatives.
President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed declared three days of mourning and joined thousands of people who responded to a desperate plea by hospitals to donate blood for the wounded victims. “I am appealing all Somali people to come forward and donate,” he said.
Many victims died at hospitals from their wounds, said Police Capt. Mohamed Hussein.
Somalia’s government has blamed the al-Qaida-linked al-Shabab extremist group for the attack it called a “national disaster.”
However, al-Shabab, which often targets high-profile areas of the capital with bombings, had yet to comment.
“They don’t care about the lives of Somali people, mothers, fathers and children,” Prime Minister Hassan Ali Khaire said. “They have targeted the most populated area in Mogadishu, killing only civilians.”
Somalia’s information minister, Abdirahman Omar, said the blast was the largest the city had ever seen. “It’s a sad day. This how merciless and brutal they are, and we have to unite against them,” he said, speaking to the state-run radio station.
Overnight, rescue workers with torch lights searched for any survivors trapped under the rubble of the Safari Hotel, which was largely destroyed. The hotel is close to Somalia’s foreign ministry. The blast blew off metal gates and blast walls erected outside the hotel.
http://www.foxnews.com/world/2017/10/15/somalia-explosion-kills-at-least-53-people.html
PB/TK – Yes the US has committed itself to fighting terrorists worldwide, but the majority of that focus seems to be in Afghanistan the Arabian Peninsula and for way too long groups like al-Shabab and Boko Haram have had free reign due to little attention for possible a single reason; we haven’t fully embraced what atrocities they can actually do
