A truck bomb detonated at a busy intersection in Mogadishu’s Wadajir district ripped through Kawa-Godey market just after Dhuhr prayers killing at least 35 and injuring scores more.

A police official, Capt. Mohamed Hussein told reporters that a car bomb exploded close to shops, food stands, and khat stalls.

Witnesses say that a car parked on the roadside was detonated sending plumes of thick black smoke in the air.

The vast majority of the victims were shoppers and traders.

Speaking with HOL, Medina Hospital Director Mohamed Yusuf said that over 35 people were brought to the hospital. 11 were treated for minor injuries and sent home. He added that 3 victims died while doctors fought to save their lives. Among the victims are several young children and women.

“In the coming hours, we will know exactly how many people came to us, how many died and how many were injured in this attack.”

He also noted that many of the injured have been sent to different hospitals in the area and he hasn’t spoken with them.

HOL journalists reporting from Media Hospital said that they saw a pregnant woman being carted off to the emergency room. Her family members told us she was a khat trader in Kawa-Godey.

Media hospital is the closest major hospital to Kawa-Godey market, which is also in Medina district.

There has been no immediate claim of responsibility but the militant insurgency group Al-Shabaab is widely believed to be behind the attack. The group has vowed to fight the Somali government which it views as an apostate state. The group regularly carries out deadly attacks in the nation’s capital, often times with the use of suicide bombers.

The latest attack comes on the heels of an announcement by Sheikh Hassan Yaqub, condemning the countries election and the new President.

The senior Al-Shabaab commander called President Mohamed Abdullahi Farmajo an “apostate” and “evil-minded”.