How Many People Died In Mogadishu, Somalia Explosion From Car Bomb?

A car bomb detonated near a hotel on a crowded street in Somalia’s capital early Monday killing at least 13 people, police and medical services said. The explosion comes after a man was killed by a blast as he tried to breach through a checkpoint, Reuters reported.

The blast, which took place outside the Wehliye Hotel on Maka al Mukaram street, damaged a house in the area. However, its initial target was the hotel, police said.

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"We have carried 13 dead people and 14 others are injured. The death toll may rise further," Abdikadir Abdirahman, director of aid-funded Aamin Ambulance services, told Reuters.

A spokesman for Somali Islamist insurgent group al Shabaab claimed responsibility for Monday’s violent attack.

"We were behind the Maka al Mukaram street blast. We killed 17 people, including senior officials of military and security and former lawmakers," Sheikh Abdiasis Abu Musab, al Shabaab's military operation spokesman, told Reuters.

Hours before the assault, police shot at a minibus, which later exploded after the driver refused to stop as it approached a checkpoint, also in Mogadishu, police officer Nur Osman told Reuters, adding that the driver was killed and two bystanders were wounded.

"A policeman at a checkpoint shot at the speeding minibus. It exploded and killed the al Shabaab fighter that drove it," he said.

In the past, al Qaeda-linked al Shabaab claimed responsibility for gun, grenade and bomb attacks mostly in Mogadishu. This included other regions controlled by the federal government, Reuters reported. Many of these attacks were aimed at military bases. Some were toward civilians.

"There is a trend of increasingly targeting hotels since 2015," Greg Robin, an IED expert at Nairobi-based thinktank Sahan Research, told Reuters. "This is where government operatives stay or have meals or meetings. They are specifically targeted."

Robin claimed the insurgents were increasing their use of massive truck bombs. He referenced an attack that happened in 2015, the six that occured in 2016 and the explosions that went off in 2017.