VICE News: Dozens Reported Killed by Bombings at Restaurant and Busy Intersection in Somalia
The Somali militant group al Shabaab bombed a busy junction and a nearby restaurant in the town of Baidoa on Sunday, killing as many as 55 people.
"The restaurant and the junction were very busy and the death toll may rise," Police Major Bilow Nurr told Reuters from Baidoa, which is located about 150 miles northwest of Mogadishu. Another police officer said a suicide car bomb blew up at the junction while a second blast, possibly a bomb that had been planted or a suicide bomber, struck the restaurant.
Ismail Olad told Reuters the two locations were full of civilians and security forces. "I heard a huge crash at the busy junction and as I ran, I heard another blast at a restaurant ahead of me. The whole place was covered by smoke," he said.
According to a journalist reporting live from the scene via Twitter, 55 people were confirmed dead and 60 were hospitalized. Police Colonel Abdi Osman said at least 17 were killed, mostly civilians, with 25 others injured.
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More News On Al-Shabaab's Attacks In Somalia
Twin Suicide Bombings Kill at Least 20 as Shabab Violence Intensifies in Somalia -- NYT
Somalia Baidoa bombings which killed dozens blamed on al-Shabaab militant group -- Independent
Al-Shabab suicide bombings kill 21 people in Somalia -- UPI
Deadly Explosions Rock Somali Town -- VOA
Bomb attacks kill at least 21 in Somalia -- Sky News
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Guardian
If any country is an imperial metaphor, it is Somalia. Sharing a language and religion, Somalis have been divided between the British, French, Italians and Ethiopians. Tens of thousands of people have been handed from one power to another. "When they are made to hate each other," wrote a British colonial official, "good governance is assured."
Today Somalia is a theme park of brutal, artificial divisions, long impoverished by World Bank and IMF "structural adjustment" programmes, and saturated with modern weapons – notably President Obama's personal favourite, the drone. The one stable Somali government, the Islamic Courts, was "well received by the people in the areas it controlled", reported the US Congressional Research Service, "[but] received negative press coverage, especially in the west". Obama crushed it; and last January Hillary Clinton, then secretary of state, presented her man to the world. "Somalia will remain grateful to the unwavering support from the United States government," effused President Hassan Mohamud. "Thank you, America."
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