The bomb attack outside the Education Ministry in Mogadishu has left at least 70 people with dozens more wounded. Witnesses said a truck blew up after stopping at a security checkpoint in front of the building. Most of the victims were said to be students who were queuing in front of the building.

The al-Qaeda linked al-Shabab group claimed responsibility for the attack, which came after a relative lull in the group's activities against the Western-backed Transitional Federal Government, following the withdrawal of most of its forces from the capital in August. Al Shabab had previously carried out several bomb attacks in Mogadishu and Uganda, but African Union forces managed to drive them out of the Somali capital forcing the militants to regroup in the south and west.

Al-Shabab includes veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts and claims allegiance to al Qaeda. The group is attempting to gain a foothold in the Horn of Africa by exploiting the state of anarchy in Somalia. It already controls southern parts of the country where tens of thousands of people have died from famine.

Author: Rob Mudge (AP, Reuters, dpa)
Editor: Michael Knigge