Somalis donate blood for victims of Saturday's deadly twin bombings

Somali students are descending on hospitals to donate food and water as well as their blood to the victims of a twin bombing in the country's capital. More than 100 people died in the blasts near the Somali Education Ministry. 

"I have nothing more I can do for them except to donate my blood to save lives," says 23-year-old student Ismail Muse Mohamed.

"As young Somali people, especially university students, these blasts hurt us a lot, therefore, the universities and schools were closed so that the students are able to take part in blood donations and other rescue efforts for the victims." university student Mohamed Yusuf Kariye said.

On Sunday, Somalia's president issued an urgent plea for international help for the wounded victims of the devastating car bombings. Bulldozers were still clearing the blast site in the capital Mogadishu on Monday in the hunt for bodies feared trapped under the rubble.

Saturday's attack, which also wounded more than 300 people, was claimed by the Al-Shabaab jihadist group and was the deadliest in the fragile Horn of Africa nation in five years.

"We appeal for the international community, Somali brothers, and other Muslim brothers and or partners to send doctors to Somalia to help the hospitals treat the wounded people," President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud said in a statement.

He warned that the death toll could rise, as ill-equipped hospitals were swamped. Somalia has been mired in chaos since the fall of president Siad Barre's military regime in 1991 and has one of the world's weakest health systems after decades of conflict.

"We cannot airlift all these numbers of wounded people... anyone who can send us (help) we request to send us," said Mohamud.

Prime Minister Hamza Abdi Barre has ordered schools closed so that students can take part in a national blood donation drive. Mohamud said he himself was among several hundred people who had donated blood to hospitals for the victims. 

The World Health Organization said on Sunday it was ready to help the government treat the wounded and provide trauma care. 

One of the doctors, Dr. Abdirazak Yusuf Ahmed explained when the hospital doors for blood donors were opened and free blood bags were given, some 2000 (two thousand) people mainly young men, politicians, and other locals, wanted to donate their blood.". "We ran tests on their blood samples and sent them to the hospitals in need for the blood donations." said Ahmed.

- We are at war' -

Al-Shabaab, an Islamist group linked to Al-Qaeda, claimed responsibility for the attack in which two cars packed with explosives blew up minutes apart near the city's busy Zobe intersection, followed by gunfire.

It said it had targeted the country's ministry of education.

The explosions tore through walls and shattered windows of nearby buildings, sending shrapnel flying and plumes of smoke and dust into the air.

Ali Yare Ali, a local government official in Mogadishu, told reporters that between seven and nine bodies were suspected to be under the rubble of buildings destroyed by the blasts.

The attack took place at the same junction where a truck packed with explosives blew up on October 14, 2017, killing 512 people and injuring more than 290, the deadliest attack in Somalia.

Somalia's allies denounced the bombings, with the United States, the United Nations, and the African Union among those issuing messages of support.

The attack tests the government's ability to secure the conflict-weary nation, including the capital of nearly 2.5 million people.

"The Somali nation and these terrorists are at war, as I speak now, there is fighting ongoing in many parts of the country," Mohamud said Sunday.

"We are at war with them, and we are killing each other."

- 'Horrible scenes' -

Mohamud called on all Somalis to show solidarity and support those affected by the attack.

"We must get united in providing assistance to the families, children, and parents of those who were martyred," he said, lauding donations of water, food, and clothes to survivors.

It was not immediately clear how the cars loaded with explosives evaded the numerous checkpoints that ring-fence the coastal city.

Witnesses said the road was busy with rows of tuk-tuks and other vehicles when the first blast hit.

First responders were met with a second explosion, killing the elderly and women with children strapped on their backs, police said.

"I could not sleep last night because of the horrible scene," police officer Adan Mohamed told AFP on Sunday.

Al-Shabaab fighters have stepped up their attacks in Somalia since Mohamud was elected in May and vowed an "all-out war" on the Islamists.

In August, the group launched a 30-hour gun and bomb attack on the popular Hayat hotel in Mogadishu, killing 21 people and wounding 117.

The insurgents have been seeking to overthrow the fragile foreign-backed government in Mogadishu for about 15 years.

They were driven out of the capital in 2011 by an African Union force but the group still controls swathes of the countryside and continues to wage deadly strikes on civilian, political, and military targets.