34 killed in Somali mosque blasts

MOGADISHU - At least 34 people were killed and 70 wounded when two powerful blasts ripped through a packed mosque in the Somali capital Saturday, Xinhua reported.

Dozens of bodies lay on the floor of the mosque in the main Bakara market of Mogadishu after the twin bomb explosions, witnesses said.

The injured were rushed to the Daynile hospital on the outskirts of the capital. No one has claimed responsibility for the attack.

Supporters of the Islamist Al Shabaab movement, linked with the Al Qaeda network in Somalia, frequently visited the mosque.

One of the group’s senior leaders, Fuad Mohamed Khalaf, injured in the blasts, was the target of the attack, said Al Shabaab spokesman Ali Mohamoud Rageh. He blamed the foreign security firms for the attack.

Al Shabaab is engaged in a deadly battle against the government and the African Union peacekeeping forces in the country.

Ahlu Sunnah Wal Jamaca, a moderate Islamist militia group, recently struck a power-sharing deal with the government. It vowed to support the government in the fight against Al Shabaab.