Somalia explosion kills 20

According to witnesses and a hospital official, an explosion kills at least 20 people in the Somali capital Mogadishu.

An explosion killed at least 20 people in the Somali capital on Sunday, according to witnesses and a hospital official — as the government struggles with a political crisis that has threatened its peace deal with elements of an Islamic insurgency.

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Salah Adde said a bomb hidden under a pile of garbage exploded on a main road and 15 people were killed, including 10 women street cleaners. “It was an ugly scene with blood everywhere,” said another witness, Farah Abdi. “I could not count the dead, I just glanced at once and I ran away for my life.”

Medina hospital admitted 47 wounded people but five of them died, hospital head Dahir Dhere said. Those deaths would have brought the death toll to 20. Dhere said most of the injured were women and children, and many were in critical condition.

The explosion followed last month’s peace agreement, which has fuelled power struggles within both the transitional government and the Islamic insurgency it is fighting.