A fireball pierced the sky and the echoes of an explosion rattled through the busy streets of Somalia's capital on Saturday as the blast from a bomb-laden truck killed at least 20 people. Two others were killed in a separate bombing hours later.

Gunshots could be heard near the hotel in Mogadishu’s Hodan district that appeared to be the main target of the initial detonation.

Police said people were trapped in the rubble of the Safari Hotel, which was largely destroyed. The explosion left a trail of destruction across a busy intersection.

Bodies and bloodied slippers and shoes littered the roadway. "There was a traffic jam and the road was packed with bystanders and cars,” said Abdinur Abdulle, a waiter at a nearby restaurant.  Windows were shattered for blocks around the epicenter of the carnage.

Burning, overturned cars lined the street.

The hotel is close to Somalia’s foreign ministry, which has been under tight security with military-manned checkpoints.

The blast, which also wounded at least 15 people, occurred two days after the head of the U.S. Africa Command was in town to meet with Somalia’s president.   About two hours after the truck bomb went off, a second blast rocked the city’s Madina district.

"It was a car bomb. Two civilians were killed,” Siyad Farah, a police major, told Reuters, adding that a suspect had been caught on suspicion of planting explosives.

There were no immediate claims of responsibility, although the Islamist Al Shabaab group has carried out regular attacks in the country.

The Al Qaeda-allied group has been trying to topple the UN-backed government and its African Union allies.  The country’s defense minister and army chief resigned earlier in the week.

The U.S. military has stepped up drone strikes and other efforts this year against the group.

Source- Daily-News