Iran Press/ Africa: The death toll in last Friday's terrorist attack in Somali capital Mogadishu has now risen to 53, with more than a hundred people injured, according to Somali police on Sunday.
Captain Mohamed Hussein, a senior Somali police officer said two bomb-laden vehicles targeted Sahafi Hotel, where government officials often visit and an explosion occurred in a parking lot of the hotel near a police station.
A third bomb was hidden in an unmanned car that had been parked at a nearby car park, police said.
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The owner of the Sahafi hotel identified as Abdifatah Abdirashid was among those killed. Abdirashid had inherited the hotel from his father who was killed in a similar attack in 2015.
Pictures from the scene showed mangled wrecks of vehicles which were plying the route.
The UN and other foreign countries have condemned the attacks which came barely a month after Somalia marked one year since the October 14, 2017 truck bombing which claimed over 500 lives.
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The African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) has condemned the bombings on Sahafi hotel and CID headquarters in the restive capital, Mogadishu.
Somali-based insurgent group al-Shabaab claimed the responsibility for the attack.
Ahmad Zakariya, a rescue worker, previously said the death toll reached 23, including nine al-Shabaab militants.
Somalia has been engulfed by violence and lawlessness since dictator Mohamed Siad Barre was toppled in the early 1990s.
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