[Al Arabiya Latest] Two explosions at a mosque in Somalia's capital Mogadishu on Saturday killed 39 worshippers, wounded scores more and hurt a senior member of the al-Qaeda-linked al-Shabaab rebels.
It was the second attack this week on a mosque in Bakara Market, an area of Mogadishu dominated by members of the country's two main rebel groups, al-Shabaab and Hizbul Islam.
Saturday's attack was at the Abdalla Shideye mosque which is used by al-Shabaab officials to deliver speeches. Most of the dead were said to be members, officials and commanders of the hard-line rebel group.
Relatives bent over dead bodies in a corner of the mosque below walls pockmarked by shrapnel. Outside, sheets of cardboard covered other victims and the wounded were pushed on wooden wheelbarrows to awaiting ambulances.
Some witnesses said a senior leader of al Shabaab, Fuad Mohamed Khalaf, was the target. Khalaf, also known as Fuad Shongole, is on a list of people in Somalia subject to U.N. sanctions because of their involvement in the conflict. "Thirty-two people died and more than 70 were wounded in the attack," Sheikh Mohamed Ibrahim Bilaal, a senior al-Shabaab official, told Reuters. "Sheikh Fuad suffered wounds on the hands.
| On the hands. Does that seem odd for a victim? Was this possibly a work accident rather than an attack? |
Maybe he was heroically trying to set off disarm the bomb ... |
The rescue workers are still taking people to hospitals."
Nurses at Daynile hospital said seven of the badly wounded subsequently died, taking the death toll to 39.
| Bad people dying uncomfortably. I can live with that. |
According to the U.N. Security Council, Khalaf has raised funds for al-Shabaab and was involved in two car bomb attacks in the capital in April 2008. |