Government appeals for humanitarian support after bomb attack

Somalia on Monday appealed to the international community to provide assistance to enable the government to respond to crisis following bomb attack in Mogadishu on Saturday, which had so far claimed more than 276 lives.

The country’s Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Disaster Management said the government had raised a team of ministers to coordinate and oversee the overall response to the national crisis.

The ministry added that a government-led National Emergency Operations Centre had also been activated in line with the national disaster management policy to help respond to the crisis.

It noted that “government had appealed to all actors on ground to coordinate the emergency operations centre so as to reach all victims affected by the deadly attack.”

So far, Kenya, Turkey and Djibouti are among countries that offered medical assistance following the deadly attack that shocked the international community.

A bomb-laden truck exploded at a busy junction in central Mogadishu lined with government buildings, restaurants, hotels and kiosks, killing 276 people and injuring over 300.

The blast destroyed buildings and set vehicles ablaze, in one of the worst such attack to date in the capital, which suffered nearly three decades of violence.

No group, including Al-Shabaab terror group which usually carries out such attacks, has claimed responsibility for the latest attack.

The ministry said the team at the National Emergency Operation Centre was assisting with victim identification, information and data management, coordination of hospitals response across the city and providing logistics support.

It said rescue workers had continued to work in the area and so far the death toll stood at 276 and300 injured.

“However, these numbers may rise as more victims continue to be rescued from the rubbles in the surrounding area,” it said.