'More than 500 died' in deadly Somalia bombing, report finds
'More than 500 died' in deadly Somalia bombing, report finds
As many as 512 people were killed in an October truck bombing in the Somali capital Mogadishu, an emergency committee investigating the deadly terrorist atrocity has found.
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The 14 October bombing was the deadliest terrorist attack in the Somalia's history. [Getty]
At least 512 people were killed in a truck bombing in the Somali capital Mogadishu last October, an emergency committee investigating the deadly terrorist atrocity has found.
The 14 October bombing was the deadliest terrorist attack in the country's history and was referred to by one official as "Somalia's 9/11".
"The overall number of people we have recorded involved in the casualty are 869 persons: 512 are dead, 295 wounded and about 70 others are not yet confirmed if they were dead and or missing," Abdulahi Mohamed Shirwac, chairman of the Somali Emergency Operation Centre told AFP Saturday.
The 11-member board was established to look into the 14 October bombing.
The government has not commented on the report, which it received this week.
No group claimed responsibility for the attack, but the al-Qaeda-aligned al-Shabaab militant group has been blamed.
The al-Shabaab has been fighting to overthrow successive internationally-backed governments in Mogadishu since 2007 and frequently deploys car and truck bombs against military, government and civilian targets.
The huge October explosion levelled buildings in the capital's busy Kilometre 5 neighbourhood.
Since then the US - which supports Somalia's fledgling army as well as carrying out its own operations against the Shabaab and a separate self-proclaimed Islamic State group in the north of the country - has increased the frequency of airstrikes targeting militant leaders.
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