![\"Somalia\"](\"http:\/\/english.thesunrisetoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/Somalia.jpg\")
The most powerful bomb blast ever witnessed in Somalia\u2019s capital killed at least 231 people with more than 275 injured, a senator said Sunday, making it the deadliest single attack in this Horn of Africa nation. The toll could continue to rise.\nAbshir Abdi Ahmed cited doctors at overwhelmed hospitals he visited in Mogadishu a day after a truck bomb targeted a crowded street near key government ministries. Many of the bodies in mortuaries had not yet been identified, he said.
\nAs angry protesters gathered near the scene of the attack, Somalia\u2019s government blamed the Al-Qaeda-linked Al-Shabab extremist group for what it called a \u201cnational disaster.\u201d However, Africa\u2019s deadliest Islamic extremist group, which often targets high-profile areas of the capital, had yet to comment.
\nThe Mogadishu bombing is one of the deadliest attacks in sub-Saharan Africa, larger than the Garissa University attack in Kenya in 2015 and the US Embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998.
\nDoctors at Mogadishu hospitals struggled to assist badly wounded victims, many burned beyond recognition. \u201cThis is really horrendous, unlike any other time in the past,\u201d said Dr. Mohamed Yusuf, the director of Medina hospital.
\nInside, bleary-eyed nurses transported a man whose legs had been blown off. He waited as surgeons attended to another badly injured patient. Exhausted doctors struggled to keep their eyes open, while screams from victims and newly bereaved families echoed through the halls.
\n\u201cNearly all of the wounded victims have serious wounds,\u201d said nurse Samir Abdi. \u201cUnspeakable horrors.\u201d The smell of blood was strong.
\nA teary-eyed Hawo Yusuf looked at her husband\u2019s badly burned body. \u201cHe may die waiting,\u201d she said. \u201cWe need help.\u201d
\nAmbulance sirens echoed across the city as bewildered families wandered in the rubble of buildings, looking for missing relatives. \u201cIn our 10 year experience as the first responder in #Mogadishu, we haven\u2019t seen anything like this,\u201d the Aamin Ambulance service tweeted.
\nGrief overwhelmed many.
\n\u201cThere\u2019s nothing I can say. We have lost everything,\u201d wept Zainab Sharif, a mother of four who lost her husband. She sat outside a hospital where he was pronounced dead after hours of efforts by doctors to save him.
\nThe country\u2019s Somali-American leader, President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed, declared three days of mourning and joined thousands of people who responded to a desperate plea by hospitals to donate blood. \u201cI am appealing all Somali people to come forward and donate,\u201d he said.
\nMogadishu, a city long accustomed to deadly bombings by Al-Shabab, was stunned by the force of Saturday\u2019s blast. The explosion shattered hopes of recovery in an impoverished country left fragile by decades of conflict, and it again raised doubts over the government\u2019s ability to secure the seaside city of more than 2 million people.
\n\u201cThey don\u2019t care about the lives of Somali people, mothers, fathers and children,\u201d Prime Minister Hassan Ali Khaire said of the attackers. \u201cThey have targeted the most populated area in Mogadishu, killing only civilians.\u201d
\nRescue workers searched for survivors trapped under the rubble of the largely destroyed Safari Hotel, which is close to Somalia\u2019s foreign ministry. The explosion blew off metal gates and blast walls erected outside the hotel.
\nThe United States condemned the bombing, saying \u201csuch cowardly attacks reinvigorate the commitment of the United States to assist our Somali and African Union partners to combat the scourge of terrorism.\u201d It tweeted a photo of its charge d\u2019affaires in Somalia donating blood.
\nBut the US Africa Command said US forces had not been asked to provide aid. A spokesman told The Associated Press that first responders and local enforcement would handle the response and \u201cthe US would offer assistance if and when a request was made.\u201d
\nThe US military has stepped up drone strikes and other efforts this year against Al-Shabab, which is also fighting the Somali military and over 20,000 African Union forces in the country.
\nThe United Nations special envoy to Somalia called the attack \u201crevolting,\u201d saying an unprecedented number of civilians had been killed. Michael Keating said the UN and African Union were supporting the Somali government\u2019s response with \u201clogistical support, medical supplies and expertise.\u201d
\nThe spokesman for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres strongly condemned the attack and urged all Somalis to unite against extremism and work together to build a \u201cfunctional\u201d federal state.
\nSaturday\u2019s blast occurred two days after the head of the US Africa Command was in Mogadishu to meet with Somalia\u2019s president, and two days after the country\u2019s defense minister and army chief resigned for undisclosed reasons.
\nAmid the chaos, the stories of victims began to emerge. Amino Ahmed said one of her friends, a female medical student, was killed on the eve of her graduation. The explosion also killed a couple returning from a hospital after having their first child, said Dahir Amin Jesow, a Somali lawmaker.
\n\u201cIt\u2019s a dark day for us,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n