Mogadishu’s Aamin Ambulance Service says at least 76 people are dead and scores injured after a huge car bomb exploded at a busy junction on the southwestern side of Mogadishu.
The death toll is likely to rise, with some officials saying as many as 90 people are dead.
Witnesses say the blast occurred at a security checkpoint at an intersection used by vehicles leaving and entering Mogadishu from Afgoye town. An officer said it was a truck bomb.
Early reports indicated the vehicle filled with explosives was targeting a busy taxation office at the junction where vehicles stop to pay their road taxes.
A man assists a civilian injured at the scene of a car bomb at a checkpoint in Mogadishu, Somalia, Dec. 28, 2019.
A witness who went to the scene told VOA Somali that he saw blood and pieces of bodies scattered throughout the scene.
“It’s hard to quantify, but many people died,” he said.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the blast. However, the al-Qaida-linked terror group al-Shabab has carried out similar attacks in the past.
A general view shows the scene of a car bomb explosion at a checkpoint in Mogadishu, Somalia, Dec. 28, 2019.