Twenty nine people were killed in a suicide car bomb near Mogadishu’s largest port yesterday. The attack took place in Mogadishu, the Somali capital, in the latest suicide attack of its kind sponsored by the militant group Al-Shabaab that is linked to Al-Qaeda. According to the assertions of official Somali sources, the attack is considered to be the latest attempt to disrupt parliamentary and presidential elections in Somalia.

A security official said a car bomb exploded close to Mogadishu International Port in an area where port workers were working at the port, and this resulted in significant damage to buildings close to it. The attack took place at the entrance of Mogadishu’s largest commercial port and residents said they heard a loud explosion in the city before a column of smoke rose into the sky.

The Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud condemned the attack and called people to unite and stand together in the face of Al-Shabaab militias that are linked to Al-Qaeda.

Somali Police said the death toll from the truck bombing that took place at the entrance of Somalia’s largest port in the capital Mogadishu has risen to at least 29 people. Fifty others were wounded and bodies were scattered outside the capital’s terminal in a street filled with rubble from damaged cafes. Ibrahim Mohammed, an officer in the local police force, said that “the suicide bomber targeted a section that was filled with civilians, workers and small traders”.