The Somalia truck bombing (2017), also called the Mogadishu bombings, took place on Saturday October 14th, killing at least 300 people and injuring some 300 others. Flags are at half-mast as the nation mourns for three days. Kenya, Ethiopia and Turkey are offering medical help.
On Saturday a huge truck bomb went off in Mogadishu, the capital of Somalia. Houses were flattened, the Safari Hotel was destroyed, a nearby oil truck blew up. Burning cars and bodies and body parts were everywhere. Many of the dead were burned beyond recognition. An incinerated minibus had schoolchildren.
Two days before the bombing, both the defence minister and army chief stepped down from their posts for reasons unknown.
It is by far the worst terrorist attack in Somalia in living memory – no mean achievement for a country that has been sunk in civil war since 1991, with an ally of al-Qaeda at large in the countryside: al-Shabab.
Al-Shabab, jihadists who are losing the war, are widely suspected of being behind the bombing. But they have not claimed credit, which is not like them.
One of the dead is Maryam Abdullahi (pictured above), due to graduate medical school the next day. Her father came to Mogadishu to see her graduate. Instead he saw her buried.
Compare the death toll of 300+ to some other terrorist attacks:
- 2,993: 9/11 (US, 2001)
- 700?: Baga Massacre of 2015 (Nigeria, 2015)
- 303: US embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania (1998)
- 301: Beirut bombing of US Marine and French barracks (Lebanaon, 1983)
- 270: Lockerbie (Britain, 1988)
- 191: Madrid train bombings (Spain, 2004)
- 169: Oklahoma City bombing (US, 1995)
- 152: Garissa University attack (Kenya, 2015)
- 137: Bataclan theatre (France, 2015)
- 67+: Westgate shopping mall (Kenya, 2013)
- 59: Las Vegas massacre (US, 2017)
- 22: Manchester bombing (Britain, 2017)
- 12: Charlie Hebdo shooting (France, 2015)
- 6: Boston Marathon bombing (US, 2013)
Al-Shabab claims credit for Westgate and Garissa.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of Canada tweeted:
“The attacks in Somalia are horrifying & Canada condemns them strongly. We mourn with the Canadian Somali community today.”
President Donald Trump of the US tweeted:
“”
There are almost as many Somali Americans as Somali Canadians.
Media guide: The number of times “Somalia” appeared on the home page of news websites as of Monday afternoon (New York time):
- 5: Aljazeera
- 4: The Guardian
- 3: Atlanta Black Star, NY Daily News, Yahoo! News
- 2: Buzzfeed News, Al Arabiya, The Root, Univision, Google News (US edition)
- 1: Fox News, LA Times, Democracy Now!, Times of India
- 0: BBC, RT, Xinhua, CNN, MSNBC, New York Times, Washinngton Post, Huffington Post, The Economist, Daily Mail, Des Moines Register, Drudge Report, Daily Caller
Some of the zeros are the very ones who will go nuts over much smaller attacks on White people – #JeSuisCharlie and all that.
For the US, Somalia is not just some faraway country in Africa. The US is fighting there. It unofficially operates the Baledogle airfield, 110km north-west of Mogadishu (#8 on the map above). Somalia was part of President Obama’s Dronelandia. In April 2017 President Trump started sending US soldiers. One died in May, the first US combat death in Somalia since the Battle of Mogadishu in 1993 when two Black Hawk helicopters were shot down.
– Abagond, 2017.
Update (October 17th): The death toll is now up to 320, making it the ninth worst terrorist attack in the world since the Second World War. Authorities believe that the truck bomb was headed for a government ministry but went off before it got there. They say they stopped a second truck bomb from entering the city. Its driver, according to them, said he was proud of what he was doing, that it was for jihad, that al-Shabab was behind it. Al-Shabab has yet to claim credit.
Update (October 18th): Authorities say the bomber was with al-Shabab and that both he and the truck came from Bariire, a town which the US raided in August, killing 10 civilians and 0 al-Shabab fighters. Three of those killed in that raid were children, ages six to ten. Al-Shabab used pictures of the dead children to get more people to join their cause. The US hit Bariire again yesterday. Under President Trump rules about killing civilians have been loosened.
Sources: mainly NPR, BBC, Aljazeera, The Intercept, Johnston Archive (list of deadliest terrorist attacks worldwide), Twitter, Google Images, Google Maps.
See also:
- Somalia
- al-Shabab
- jihad
- Wahhabi Islam – what they push
- Whitespeak
- terrorist attacks
- This week in civilian slaughter
- Media guide for the Trump Era
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Black people can get respite from neither the snow whites nor the sand whites, their xenophobic religions and the associated “mentacide”. I pray to the ancestors that our minds hasten back to us.
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Sad, mindless, needless so many lost lives and why? Shame on the new for nit reporting it
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Sadly America doesn’t care we always remember white Europeans but not give a second thought to Africa.
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Maryam Abdullahi she looked so lovely and she had a brilliant mind and such a
tragedy to not get to be a doctor. So many lives lost such a horrible tragedy.
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Update (October 17th): The death toll is now up to 320, making it the ninth worst terrorist attack in the world since the Second World War. Authorities believe that the truck bomb was headed for a government ministry but went off before it got there. They say they stopped a second truck bomb from entering the city. Its driver, according to them, said he was proud of what he was doing, that it was for jihad, that al-Shabab was behind it. Al-Shabab has yet to claim credit.
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I want to post something but all I feel is grief.
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Maryam’s story is heartbreaking on its own, let alone with hundreds of other deaths added to it.
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another senseless act of terrorism most likely staged by the U.S./Europe
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This story should be running on CNN non-stop….. London, France, etc got full attention for days for much less….
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Update (October 18th): Authorities say the bomber was with al-Shabab and that both he and the truck came from Bariire, a town which the US raided in August, killing 10 civilians and 0 al-Shabab fighters. Three of those killed in that raid were children, ages six to ten. Al-Shabab used pictures of the dead children to get more people to join their cause. The US hit Bariire again yesterday. Under President Trump rules about killing civilians have been loosened.
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The Young Turks is finally reporting this story.
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They should say, “Mogadishu Strong!” Also, they should say, “Africa Strong!” It is due to the worst terrorist attack in African history.
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