The first kaboom ‐ in the city’s K5 Junction area which is lined with government offices, hotels, and restaurants ‐ destroyed several buildings and set dozens of vehicles on fire.
"We know that at least 20 civilians are dead while dozens of others are maimed," said Abdullahi Nur, a police officer who was in the area.
"The corpse count will surely rise. We are still busy transporting casualties," he said, adding that there were bodies under the rubble.
About two hours later, a second blast took place in the city’s Madina district.
"It was a boom-mobile. Two non-combatants were killed, " Siyad Farah, a police major, told Rooters, adding that a suspect had been caught on suspicion of planting explosives.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility, although the Islamist al-Shabaab
...
an Islamic infestation centering on Somalia...group has carried out regular attacks
The al Qaeda-allied group is waging an insurgency to topple the weak U.N.-backed government and its African Union
...a union consisting of 53 African states, most run by dictators of one flavor or another. The only all-African state not in the AU is Morocco. Established in 2002, the AU is the successor to the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), which was even less successful...
allies and impose its own strict interpretation of Islam.