![\"\"](\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Somalia_litter.jpg.jpg\")
The 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mogadishu, 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\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<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Rescue 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But the U.S. Africa Command said U.S. 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 U.S. would offer assistance if and when a request was made.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The U.S. 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The United Nations special envoy to Somalia called the attack \u201crevolting,\u201d saying an unprecedented number of civilians had been killed. Michael Keating said the U.N. and African Union were supporting the Somali government\u2019s response with \u201clogistical support, medical supplies and expertise.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The spokesman for U.N. 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Saturday\u2019s blast occurred two days after the head of the U.S. 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Amid 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a dark day for us,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
AP journalist Mohamed Sheikh Nor in Mogadishu, Somalia, contributed.<\/i><\/p>\n\n\n\n
The most powerful bomb blast ever witnessed in Somalia\u2019s capital killed at least 231 people with more than 275 injured, the deadliest single attack in this Horn of Africa nation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":88662,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":12,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[101,12,25],"tags":[],"coauthors":[2655],"class_list":["post-43736","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-news-roundup","category-news","category-newsletters"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"5H5YP6Z4XFEPDLCQW6LDAOEB6Q","arc_canonical_url":"\/news\/2017\/10\/15\/231-killed-in-deadliest-single-attack-in-somalias-history\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"\n