At least 276 people have now been confirmed killed in Saturday's double car bombing in Mogadishu, making it the deadliest incident in Somalia's modern history. Somalia's Ministry of Information said 300 people remained in hospitals after the October 14 attack.
The number of casualties may rise as rescuers continue to pull more bodies from the rubble, the Ministry said. Somalia's Information Minister told CNN Monday that in addition to 277 killed, 40 of those wounded in the attack had injuries too severe to be treated in Mogadishu and were at the airport to be airlifted to Turkey for treatment.
The Office of the President on Sunday announced the nation is in three days of mourning, with the national flag lowered at half-staff to honor those killed. So far, no group has claimed responsibility. The first explosion destroyed dozens of stalls and the popular Safari Hotel in the heart of the city.
Footage from the scene showed damaged buildings and a burning truck at the first blast site. A large white building had collapsed into a pile of rubble and other structures appeared blackened and destroyed. Qatar's Embassy was also damaged, according to a statement from its Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The embassy's charge d'affaires suffered minor injuries, the statement said.
Minutes after the first blast, a second vehicle bomb went off in the nearby Madina district. Security forces had been tipped off about the vehicle carrying explosives and were pursuing it in the busy K5 district of the city when the explosion happened, said Col. Ahmed Hassan of the Mogadishu police.
The K5 district plays host to numerous government buildings, restaurants and hotels. Other videos from the scene posted on social media showed a huge plume of black smoke rising from the blast site.
The UK ambassador to Somalia, David Concar, tweeted that the blast was audible from inside the British Embassy. He also posted a video clip showing thick, dark smoke on the skyline. Michael Keating, special representative of the United Nations secretary-general for Somalia, said he was appalled by the death toll and the scope of the destruction.
"The perpetrators struck a densely populated neighborhood of Mogadishu. They have killed an unprecedented number of civilians. It is a revolting attack both in terms of its intent and impact," he said.
Mogadishu, a large city on the east African nation's coast, has endured high levels of violence for years. Al-Shabaab, an al Qaeda-linked terror group, has carried out several deadly car bomb attacks in the city.
Somalis also face another threat: starvation.
The country is in the midst of a severe drought, and 3.1 million people are threatened by famine because of the food shortages and violence, according to reports from the United Nations this year.