ABC News: <\/p>\n\n\n\n
MOGADISHU, Somalia — Somalia\u2019s president says at least 100 people were killed in Saturday\u2019s two car bombings at a busy junction in the capital and the toll could rise in the country’s deadliest attack since a truck bombing at the same spot five years ago killed more than 500.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, at the site of the explosions in Mogadishu, told journalists that nearly 300 other people were wounded. \u201cWe ask our international partners and Muslims around the world to send their medical doctors here since we can’t send all the victims outside the country for treatment,” he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The al-Qaida-linked al-Shabab extremist group, which often targets the capital and controls large parts of the country, claimed responsibility, saying it targeted the education ministry. It claimed the ministry was an \u201cenemy base\u201d that receives support from non-Muslim countries and \u201cis committed to removing Somali children from the Islamic faith.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Al-Shabab usually doesn\u2019t make claims of responsibility when large numbers of civilians are killed, as in the 2017 blast, but it has been angered by a high-profile new offensive by the government that also aims to shut down its financial network. The group said it is committed to fighting until the country is ruled by Islamic law, and it asked civilians to stay away from government areas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Somalia\u2019s president, elected this year, said the country remained at war with al-Shabab \u201cand we are winning.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The attack in Mogadishu occurred on a day when the president, prime minister and other senior officials were meeting to discuss expanded efforts to combat violent extremism and especially al-Shabab. The extremists, who seek an Islamic state, have responded to the offensive by killing prominent clan leaders in an apparent effort to dissuade grassroots support.<\/p>\n\n\n\n