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Somalia's version of the Taliban, functioning as an arm of al-Qaeda...grabbed credit.
The number of deaths from Friday's twin boom-mobile kabooms in the Somali capital, Mogadishu, rose to at least 38, according to officials on Saturday.
Al-Qaeda-linked Islamist group al-Shabaab has grabbed credit for the attack, which targeted the presidential palace and subsequently a hotel. The attacks follow months of relative calm.
- A vehicle that was loaded with explosives was used to try to breach a checkpoint on the way into the presidential palace Villa Somalia, according to officials who said security forces thwarted the attack. A blast at the checkpoint was reportedly followed by gunfire.
- A second kaboom later, which destroyed vehicles outside the hotel as well as the compound's perimeter wall, was reported to have claimed a substantial proportion of the casualties.
- The attack was claimed by al-Shabaab in a statement posted online. The group, which claimed to have killed 35 soldiers while having lost five of its fighters, said it was targeting the government and security services.
Security officials claimed they had been successful in thwarting the main thrust of the attack. "The security forces foiled the intent of the terrorists," the AFP news agency reported Abdulahi Ahmed, a security officer, as saying. "They were aiming for key targets, but they could not even go closer, there were five of them killed by the security force."