Over 70 killed, more others injured in truck bombing in suburbs of Mogadishu

More than 70 people, most of them students, were killed and dozens of others injured in a truck bombing in Ex-Control area in the outskirts of Mogadishu early Saturday morning.

Mogadishu Mayor Omar Filish said the majority of those killed were university and school students.

“The incident happened at Ex-Control area. The official number of those injured was 90. Most of them were pupils and students from Banaadir University,” Filish said.

He also revealed the vehicle involved in the bombing was a lorry and that it was heading to the city. “We thank our security forces for blocking the lorry. It was heading to Mogadishu.”

Pictures from the scene showed dozens of bodies on the ground with sources indicating the number could be way high since those on the pictures were university students only. On the scene was mangled wreckage of the minibus which was transporting the Banaadir University students.

Media correspondents at the scene said several other vehicles that were on traffic at the time of the incident were destroyed while structures around the area were razed by fire.

Reports add that there were two suspected Al-Shabaab militants in the truck that went burst at a checkpoint some minutes past 7:am local time.