Witness Survives Suicide Bombing in Mogadishu

On October 18th, a suicide attack occurred in Mogadishu. This is an eyewitness account from a survivor.

The car laden with explosives and metal fragments exploded not far away. There was a load explosion, it was very chaotic, and people were running back and forth, screaming, diving for cover. There was human flesh strewn everywhere at the scene of the blast. Glass windows were shattered and there were hot metal fragments lying about. It was more like Baghdad than Mogadishu.

I just closed my eyes and hoped that this was wasn’t real but all the while I heard my friend yelling at me to run for cover, but my legs were too weak for me to escape. I thought that this was the last day of my life, but it is part and parcel of life here in Somalia – the country in which all of us are on death-row with no date set for our execution!

The suicide car bomb exploded prematurely. At least four people were killed in the blast, the second such attack in the area this month alone.

The blast took place in the busy Kilometer 5 area near Banadir hospitals and close to the foreign ministry and planning ministry. The suicide bomber struck about two kilometers from where a meeting between high-level Kenyan and Somali government officials had been taking place.

Most of the casualties were vendors and customers who were at the spot where the car bomb unexpectedly went off.

Later in the afternoon, I saw body parts strewn everywhere, including parts which appeared to be that of the suicide bomber which indicates that the bomber was totally burnt and ripped apart in all directions.

Ambulances with their blaring sirens were busy evacuating the wounded and government forces fired into the air to disperse a crowd which had gathered in the street. The scene was just familiar to people who live in this part of the world. They had witnessed similar carnage for the last two decades. As far as I am concerned, this was my closest call, since I had passed through that area less than 3 three minutes before the deadly blast. I am lucky to be alive!