Seven children were injured inside their makeshift homes in Darwish IDP camp near the Somali parliament building in Mogadishu when a car bomb exploded on Saturday. Ali Abdi Rage, a father of two of the wounded children, said they were hit by shrapnel from the blast. The children were taken to local fee-paying hospitals. Their families, who were already struggling to get a meal, are unable to pay the medical bills.
Fadumo Osman, a mother of several children, said her son sustained serious stomach injuries and has been admitted to hospital. “The cost is very high and I don’t know how I will manage to pay when he’s discharged,” she said. Osman and the other displaced mothers of the wounded children asked the government to help them pay the hospital bills.
Darwish camp hosted hundreds of displaced people, mostly women and children, coming from Bay, Bakool, Lower and Middle Shabelle regions, and other parts of central Somalia. But fearing more attacks, many of them have begun to flee again and are gathering in camps on the outskirts of Mogadishu.
An al-Shabaab spokesman threatened to turn the parliament building into a “military zone.” Last month al-Shabaab militants set off a car bomb at the gates of parliament and then stormed the building while MPs were meeting, leaving at least 16 people dead.
Al-Shabaab has vowed to step up attacks during the Muslim month of Ramadan. The group said it was behind the latest blast, which killed two people. Security forces guarding the parliament stopped the explosives-packed car before it reached the parliament building.
