Shabaab, al Qaeda's affiliate in Somalia, claimed credit for a massive suicide truck bombing today in Mogadishu that killed scores of school children and Somali soldiers. The attack is the worst in Somalia since Shabaab launched its insurgency in early 2007.
The suicide bomber detonated a truck packed with explosives at the Hargaha and Samaha compounds in the capital, according to Mareeg. Government ministers were present at the scene of the attack, where scholarships were being awarded by the Turkish government to Somali students.
Upwards of 100 Somalis, including dozens of students and their parents, are estimated to have been killed, and more than 90 wounded. Somali ministers and parliamentarians are also said to have been wounded in the attack.
Shabaab claimed credit for the deadly suicide blast, saying it targeted Somali government officials and troops from the African Union Mission in Somalia.
"Our Mujahideen fighters have entered a place where ministers and AMISOM foreigners stay," an official statement on Shabaab's website stated.
"One of our Mujahideen made the sacrifice to kill TFG [Transitional Federal Government] officials, the African Union troops, and other informers who were in the compound," a Shabaab official told AFP.
Today's attack is the largest in Somalia since Shabaab began its insurgency against the weak Transitional Federal Government following the Ethiopian invasion in December 2006 and the ouster of Shabaab's predecessor, the Islamic Courts, in early 2007. Shabaab now controls much of central and southern Somalia, although the terror group pulled many of its forces from Mogadishu last summer, claiming to make a tactical retreat.
Read more: http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2011/10/shabaab_suicide_bomb_2.php?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+LongWarJournal+%28The+Long+War+Journal%29#ixzz1ZpBZzycK
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