People and soldiers search
in the rubble of a destroyed building in Baidoa after twin explosions in the
Somali city killed at least thirty people leaving over fifty severely injured.
Thirty was confirmed to
have been killed in a double bomb attack by the militant Islamist group al
Shabaab in the Somalian city of Baidoa.
Abdurashid Abdulahi,
governor of the Bay region, said all of those killed were civilians and that 61
people had also been injured, 15 of them seriously.
The bombs were detonated on
Sunday afternoon at a busy junction and a nearby restaurant in the city, which
is around 150 miles from the country's capital, Mogadishu.
Police said a suicide car
bomb blew up at the junction but it was not clear whether the second bomb was
planted or carried by a suicide bomber.
Authorities said the
restaurant and junction had been very busy at the time of the explosions.
Hospital officials said
many of the bodies were charred beyond recognition.
Member of Somali security
forces stands on top of a truck mounted with a weapon as he patrols the streets
during an operation against suspected militant Islamist group al Shabaab in
Mogadishu
Play video "2015: The
Threat From Al Shabaab"
Video: 2015: The Threat
From Al Shabaab
Witness Ismail Olad told
Reuters the two locations had been full of civilians and security forces,
adding: "I heard a huge crash at the busy junction and, as I ran, I heard
another blast at a restaurant ahead of me.
"The whole place was
covered by smoke."
Al Shabaab said it carried
out the attacks, the latest in a number of suicide bombings aimed at toppling
Somalia's western-backed government.
The group's ultimate aim is
to bring the African nation under its strict version of Islamic rule.
Reuters quoted al Shabaab's
military operations spokesman Sheikh Abdiasis Abu Musab as saying they had been
targeting "government officials and forces".
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