Christina Goldbaum

Special for USA TODAY

MOGADISHU, Somalia — Volunteer emergency workers, security forces and African Union peacekeepers dug through rubble Monday searching for more victims in a horrific weekend bombing that killed more than 300 people, injured nearly 400 and leveled an entire block in this capital city.



“I have never seen anything like this in my life,” said Istar Mohamed, 24, a mother of three who was hit with shrapnel in her arm, hip and leg. “You can’t imagine the devastation that happened there. After a few moments I fell unconscious from the impact of it all.”

Abdikadir Abdhirahman, director of Mogadishu’s only ambulance service, confirmed the rising death toll, which makes it one of the deadliest terror attacks since 9/11. The government suspected the bombing was the work of al-Shabab, the insurgent group linked to the al-Qaeda terrorist network, though no one has claimed responsibility yet.

Among those killed was Mohamoud Elmi, a Somali-American in his early 30s from Ohio, the second Somali-American confirmed killed in the attack. The other was Ahmed Eyow, 50, who lived in Minnesota, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reported.

Nicknamed “Obama” for his large, protruding ears, Elmi had returned to Somalia after graduating in 2007 from Franklin University in Columbus, where he served as president of the North America Somali Student Union. He decided to return to Somalia to help rebuild a country destroyed by a long civil war, several friends said.

“Somalia was in a very difficult situation when Mohamoud returned, but he was determined to improve the humanitarian situation here,” said Yassid Garad, a friend from the United States who now lives in Mogadishu. “He was a very strong person, very dedicated, and always active as a leader in the Somali community in the United States and here in Mogadishu.”



When he returned to Somalia, Elmi began building primary schools and drilled wells in his family’s home region of Gedo, and later served on the independent electoral commission of Somalia’s regional Jubbaland state in the last elections. It was the most democratic vote the country had experienced in nearly 30 years.

Elmi worked as a coordinator in the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Disaster Management and was returning home from a meeting with government officials when his car was caught in the earth-rattling blast.

The attack took place around 3 p.m. Saturday, when a truck loaded with explosives detonated next to a diesel tanker near the Safari Hotel, a popular gathering place for everything from late afternoon coffee to large weddings. It was demolished as thick, black smoke rose from the burning diesel tanker.

The truck driver apparently had planned to detonate the bomb outside the Ministry of Foreign Affairs down the road from the hotel, but it detonated early.

Local police said government security forces had held the truck at two checkpoints but released it without an inspection.



“This shows major weaknesses within the Somali security sector. It’s a failure for those services,” said Abdisalam Guled, a counterterrorism expert in Mogadishu. “Even in the aftermath, the government hasn’t taken any steps toward improving security now, apart from temporarily locking down the city.”

Many of those killed have not yet been identified. On Monday, 167 unidentifiable remains were deposited in small, white bags and gingerly placed on top of concrete blocks in rows in front of 300 mourners, who had gathered at Mogadishu’s police academy cemetery.

Sheik Bashir Salad, leader of the Somali Islamic Scholars Association, offered a prayer for those killed. Then the bags were lowered into the ground — five or six bags side-by-side in a single grave.

Following the attack, more residents were injured as security forces, on heightened alert, fired bullets that struck people looking for loved ones in the rubble.

Aamino Mohamud, a mother of six young children, was searching for her uncle when government troops opened fire in her direction and shot her in the hip.

"I wasn't even there for the explosion and now I'm here in the hospital," she said, while lying on a green, plastic mattress in Medina Hospital. "And my uncle. We still don't know if he's alive or dead and buried."

More:Funerals for Somali attack victims begin as death toll rises to over 300

More:Pentagon: U.S. airstrike kills 8 al-Shabab terrorists in Somalia

More:First female taxi driver crashes glass ceiling in conservative Somali city



