Topic: Somalia Truck Bombing

[Anywhichwayicant]

At least 500 people are believed to have been killed or seriously injured in Mogadishu, the capital of Somalia, in one of the most lethal terrorist acts anywhere in the world for many years.

The death toll from Saturday’s attack, which involved a truck packed with several hundred kilograms of military-grade and homemade explosives, stood at 276 on Sunday, according to Associated Press, but is expected to rise as more bodies are dug from the rubble spread over an area hundreds of metres wide in the centre of the city. At least 300 people were injured, according to local reports.

Rescue workers on the ground said it would be difficult to establish a definitive death toll because the intense heat generated by the blast meant the remains of many people would never be found.

The rest of the story can be found at;

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/oct/15/truck-bomb-mogadishu-kills-people-somalia


Absolutely desperate.

[Andy82lfc]

Absolutly horific, don't have any more words at the moment.

[Anywhichwayicant]

Absolutly horific, don't have any more words at the moment.

I know we're encouraged to add our own few sentences when we start a thread, and I tried, but the article just speaks for itself. Just horrifying.

[TepidT2O]

Dreadful cold blooded slaughter...

[classycarra]

I caught some images in the background on a sound-less tv the other day, and had no idea what was being shown. Now I know. Unthinkable scale of destruction.

[CornerFlag]

It's bad but it's like you become numb.  But you shouldn't, it's a disgraceful loss of innocent life.  Someone's father, someone's son, someone's daughter, someone's wife, someone's mother, someone's grandparent, someone's baby.  I read about what was happening to the Rohingya and it just sort of left me numb, until I read about how one woman who had her family killed had their 18 month son ripped from her arms and thrown on a fire.  A toddler, the same age as my son, just thrown onto a fire.  That is the sort of thing that makes me sick and that feeling, knowing that in this bombing someone will undoubtedly have lost their child of a same age from human hatred, just makes me want to vomit.

Just, you can't believe it.  You don't want to believe it.

[Red Beret]

Obscene, tragic.  I'm out of fucking words.  Just holding my head in my hands...

[Xabi Gerrard]

Absolutely fucking tragic. And why the fuck is this not on the BBC news site main page?

[classycarra]

Absolutely fucking tragic. And why the fuck is this not on the BBC news site main page?

That's bizarre, they're usually very good even when it's in a country with limited association with the UK (US journalists much more likely to cover Somalia).

Being cynical, though I don't think inaccurate, Islamic extremism outside of Europe doesn't really tap into the public's conscience quite so much. As others have said, you become desensitised to these things, but the numbers I'm reading for this are huge, the scale is insane.

[Gerry Attrick]

Horrific attack.

[jooneyisdagod]

Fucking hell. I'm at a loss for words. Senseless butchery and I'm not even sure for what.

[Xabi Gerrard]

That's bizarre, they're usually very good even when it's in a country with limited association with the UK (US journalists much more likely to cover Somalia).

Being cynical, though I don't think inaccurate, Islamic extremism outside of Europe doesn't really tap into the public's conscience quite so much. As others have said, you become desensitised to these things, but the numbers I'm reading for this are huge, the scale is insane.

I think that's it. I don't know how they 'calculate' what does tap into the public conscience though - we've got a hell of a lot of Somalians in the UK who'll have a deep personal connection to this. Similar to how devastating floods that kill hundreds in Bangladesh barely make a ripple, especially compared to much less tragic floods in Texas, despite us having so many more people of Bengali descent over here than of American descent.

This attack though, fucking hell. These aren't faceless numbers who died, it's people just like us who love and are loved by their families, people of all stages in life, babies, toddlers, children, students, young adults, middle aged, auld arses, women, men, some will be as obsessed with footy as we are, some will have even loved LFC just like we do. Such a waste.

[surfer. Fuck you generator.]

It's bad but it's like you become numb.  But you shouldn't, it's a disgraceful loss of innocent life.  Someone's father, someone's son, someone's daughter, someone's wife, someone's mother, someone's grandparent, someone's baby.  I read about what was happening to the Rohingya and it just sort of left me numb, until I read about how one woman who had her family killed had their 18 month son ripped from her arms and thrown on a fire.  A toddler, the same age as my son, just thrown onto a fire.  That is the sort of thing that makes me sick and that feeling, knowing that in this bombing someone will undoubtedly have lost their child of a same age from human hatred, just makes me want to vomit.

Just, you can't believe it.  You don't want to believe it.

Sure you can. Once you stop trying to see a person as one of you there's no limit to the horrors.

[CornerFlag]

Sure you can. Once you stop trying to see a person as one of you there's no limit to the horrors.

True.  Just terrifying how having a different religion or a different viewpoint or from a place with a border you'll never see from space can mean someone is less than you.

[Rhi]

Utterly sensless and tragic. People just trying to get on with their lives, and just like that, it's gone. What a fucking waste.