Somalia: Death toll jumps to 61 in car bomb attack in Mogadishu

The death toll rose to 61 in a car bomb explosion at a busy checkpoint in Somalia's capital Mogadishu, an ambulance official said on Saturday. 

"So far, we've carried 61 dead people and 51 others injured. There are more casualties and the death toll is sure to rise," Abdikadir Abdirahman Haji Aden, founder of Aamin ambulances, said. 

Mogadishu Mayor Omar Muhamoud said that at least 90 civilians,which are mostly students have been injured in the blast.

So far, no group has taken responsibility for the attack. 

The area of the blast witnessed heavy traffic due to a security checkpoint and a taxation office. 

"I have counted twenty-two dead bodies, all of them civilians and there were more than thirty others wounded, this was dark day," said Ahmed Moalim Warsame, a witness of the explosion.

Sakariye Abdukadir, who was near the site of the incident, said that the blast destroyed several of his car's windows.

"All I could see was scattered dead bodies... amid the blast and some of them burned beyond recognition."

Mogadishu regularly witnesses attacks and bomb explosions waged by Al-Shabaab Islamist militants allied to Al-Qaeda.

The group was forced out in 2011 from Mogadishu but still control parts of the countryside and carries attacks in neighbouring Kenya. 

A popular hotel in Mogadishu was attacked by al-Shabaab militants two weeks ago where more than five people were killed.