Follow up to this story from yesterday.
[Garowe] Emergency workers in central Somalia dug through rubble to recover more bodies Sunday after a truck bombing killed over a dozen people and brought buildings crashing down.A jacket wallah drove the vehicle which was loaded with explosives towards a security checkpoint in the town of Beledweyne on Saturday, triggering a kaboom that left scores trapped under bricks and concrete.
Police told AFP on Sunday that the toll had climbed past the 13 deaths reported earlier but could not provide an exact figure.
"The search and clearing operation is going on at the site of the earth-shattering kaboom and dead bodies were recovered this morning under the debris of some buildings," said Sayid Ali, deputy commander of the Beledweyne cop shoppe.
"There are concerns the corpse count may increase further," he said, adding that the bomber had targeted a busy neighbourhood that housed businesses and residential buildings.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for Saturday’s bombing, which came after Somalia’s beleaguered government admitted to suffering "several significant setbacks" in its fight against the al-Qaeda-linked murderous Moslems.
Ahmed Yare Adan, a local police officer, told AFP on Saturday that the attack had killed 13 people and maimed 45.
Somali Deputy Health Minister Mohammed Hassan said late Saturday that "around 13 seriously maimed people (were) evacuated from Beledweyne tonight" and brought to the capital Mogadishu for treatment.
An 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...
force deployed in Somalia in 2007 with a six-month mandate but still remains on the ground.
UN resolutions call for the African Union Transition in Somalia (ATMIS) force to be reduced to zero by the end of next year, handing over security to the Somali army and police.
But this has proved challenging, with the government now seeking to delay a planned reduction of ATMIS troops.
Somalia launched a major offensive against al-Shabaab
...... Somalia's version of the Taliban, functioning as an arm of al-Qaeda...in August last year, joining forces with local clan militias in an operation backed by ATMIS troops and US air strikes.
But Somalia’s national security adviser recently wrote to the United Nations
...a lucrative dumping ground for the relatives of dictators and party hacks...
requesting a 90-day delay to the planned pullout of 3,000 ATMIS troops by the end of September.
In the letter, seen by AFP, he said the government had "managed to re-liberate towns, villages, and critical supply routes" during its offensive but had suffered "several significant setbacks" since late August.
| Al Ahram quantifies an interim number: |
"The death toll from yesterday's explosion has increased today from 13 to 21 people after more dead bodies were recovered under the debris of the destroyed buildings, some... burnt beyond recognition," Ahmed Yare Adan, a local police officer, told AFP by phone.