Rescuers continued to search the rubble on Sunday for bodies after a deadly truck bomb attack the day before in Beledweyne, in central Somalia, with police saying the death toll had risen to 13. However, the police were unable to provide new casualty figures.

“The search and clearance operation continues at the site of the explosion and dead bodies were found this (Sunday) morning under the debris of some buildings,” said Sayid Ali, deputy commander of Beledweyne police station . “We fear that the number of deaths will rise further,” he added, specifying that the suicide bomber had targeted a busy neighborhood housing businesses and residential buildings.

“We found the bodies of 13 people, most of them civilians who were nearby,” a police officer, Ahmed Yare Adan, said by telephone the day before. “There are around 45 injured people, all civilians, who have been admitted to various medical facilities and some are very seriously affected,” he added.

The suicide attack was carried out using a truck packed with explosives thrown at a checkpoint. The explosion caused considerable damage to surrounding buildings, some of which collapsed. Dozens of people were trapped under bricks and concrete.

“Total war” against Al-Shabaab

Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud has offered his condolences and reiterated his commitment to “eliminate” radical Islamist Shabab who are waging an insurgency in the country. “Incidents like this will never deter us from continuing to eliminate … terrorists,” he said.

This attack, which has not been claimed, comes at a time when the Somali government admits having suffered “several significant setbacks” in its offensive against Al-Shabaab. This week he asked the UN for a three-month postponement of the withdrawal of troops from the African Union planned for the end of September.

The government, supported by the international community, has been fighting for more than 15 years the insurgency of Chabab, a group affiliated with Al-Qaeda which says it wants to establish Islamic law in this country in the Horn of Africa. Elected in May 2022, President Hassan Cheikh Mohamoud promised a “total war” against Al-Shabaab.

Government forces and local clan militias, supported by the force of the African Union (Atmis, ex-Amisom) and American airstrikes, have been leading a military offensive in the center of the country for more than a year.

Visiting this region, the head of state declared on August 18 that Al-Shabaab would be “eliminated from the entire country” by the end of the year. Driven out of Somalia’s main cities in 2011-2012, Al-Shabaab remains established in vast rural areas, particularly in the center and south of the country, from where they regularly carry out attacks against security, political and civilian targets.