Up to 70 dead as Al Shebab attacks Somali education ministry building

Somalia’s Al Shebab has claimed responsibility for a truck-bomb attack in Mogadishu that killed as many as 70 people. The Islamist rebels also launched attacks in towns in the west and south of the country.

Reuters

The Mogadishu explosion was at an education ministry building and is believed to have gone off as students were queueing for scholarships offered by Turkey.

Estimates of the death toll stood at between 50 and 70 early Tuesday afternoon.

"One of our Mujahidin made the sacrifice to kill TFG [Transitional Federal Government] officials, the African Union troops and other informers who were in the compound," an anonymous Shebab official told the AFP news agency.

Al Shebab, which made what it claimed was a tactical retreat from Mogadishu in August, have launched attacks in two other towns.

Late Monday they attacked Dhusamareb, near the Ethiopian border, retreating after exchanges of fire with the pro-government Sufi Ahlu Sunna wal Jamaa militia.

And there was violence in Dhobley, near the southern border with Kenya, according to the UN refugee agency, which said it was worsening the humanitarian situation.