Death toll from Somalia bombings rises to 358

Thousands of people have gathered to pray at the site of last weekend's truck bombing in Mogadishu.

A man injured during last weekend's explosion at KM4 street in the Hodan district, waits inside an ambulance before medical evacuation to Sudan at the Aden Abdulle International Airport in Mogadishu, Somalia.
Reuters

A man injured during last weekend's explosion at KM4 street in the Hodan district, waits inside an ambulance before medical evacuation to Sudan at the Aden Abdulle International Airport in Mogadishu, Somalia.

The number killed in twin bombings in the Somali capital Mogadishu last weekend has risen to 358, the government said late on Friday.

As well as the confirmed death toll, 228 people were injured in what was the deadliest attack in the country's history, Somalia's news agency quoted the information and internal security ministers as saying.

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Friday attack

Meanwhile, a car bomb exploded outside the Somali capital Mogadishu on Friday killing the driver, police said, and a witness said there were at least two bodies.

The explosion happened around noon in the village of Markaz, just over 20 kilometres (12 miles) northwest of Mogadishu, Police Major Nur Ali said, adding that police had not reached the scene which he called an area inhabited by hardline militants.

A witness in the village, who gave his name as Ahmed, said that he had seen two dead bodies.

"The car was ruined and the dead bodies were cut in halves," he said.

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