At least 14 dead, several hurt in car bomb in Somali capital

At least 14 people were killed and 10 others wounded in a car bomb blast near a hotel in Somalia's capital, Mogadishu, Somali officials said Thursday.

An injured civilian who was wounded during a car bombing in Mogadishu, Somalia Thursday, March 22, 2018.(AP Photo/Farah Abdi Warsameh)

Capt. Mohamed Hussein said the explosion occurred near the Weheliye hotel on the busy Makka Almukarramah road. The road has been a target of attacks in the past by the Somalia-based extremist group al-Shabab, the deadliest Islamic extremist group in Africa.

Most of the casualties were passers-by and traders, Hussein told The Associated Press. The toll of dead and wounded was announced by security ministry spokesman Abdulaziz Hildhiban.

Somalis help a wounded civilian after a car bomb exploded in Mogadishu, Somalia Thursday, March 22, 2018.(AP Photo/Farah Abdi Warsameh)

Al-Shabab claimed responsibility for the blast. The group frequently attacks Mogadishu's high-profile areas such as hotels and military checkpoints. A truck bombing in October killed 512 people in the country's deadliest-ever attack. Only a few attacks since 9/11 have killed more people. Al-Shabab was blamed.

Thursday's blast comes almost exactly a month after two car bomb explosions in Mogadishu shattered a months-long period of calm in the city, killing at least 21 people.

Somalis help a wounded civilian after a car bombing in Mogadishu, Somalia Thursday, March 22, 2018. (AP Photo/Farah Abdi Warsameh)

The Horn of Africa nation continues to struggle to counter the Islamic extremist group. Concerns have been high over plans to hand over the country's security to Somalia's own forces as a 21,000-strong African Union force begins a withdrawal that is expected to be complete in 2020.

The U.S. military, which has stepped up efforts against al-Shabab in the past year with dozens of drone strikes, has said Somali forces are not yet ready.

A heavily armed Somali soldier helps seal the area after a car bomb exploded in Mogadishu, Somalia Thursday, March 22, 2018. (AP Photo/Farah Abdi Warsameh)

Heavily armed somalis soldiers seal the area after a car bomb exploded in Mogadishu, Somalia Thursday, March 22, 2018.  (AP Photo/Farah Abdi Warsameh)

Somalis help a wounded civilian after a car bomb exploded in Mogadishu, Somalia Thursday, March 22, 2018.  (AP Photo/Farah Abdi Warsameh)

Somalis stand outside a destroyed building and destroyed cars after a car bomb in Mogadishu, Somalia Thursday, March 22, 2018. (AP Photo/Farah Abdi Warsameh)

Somalis stand outside a destroyed building after a car bomb in Mogadishu, Somalia Thursday, March 22, 2018.(AP Photo/Farah Abdi Warsameh)

Somalis stand outside a destroyed building after a car bomb in Mogadishu, Somalia Thursday, March 22, 2018.(AP Photo/Farah Abdi Warsameh)

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Federal officials are resolved never to allow a terrorist attack like the Oklahoma City bombing happen again, Deputy Homeland Security Advisor Caitlin Durkovich told survivors and loved ones of the 168 people killed in the April 19, 1995, bombing Friday.

“What happened here in Oklahoma still rests heavy in our hearts; ... what transpired here 29 years years ago remains the deadliest act of homegrown terrorism in U.S. history,” Durkovich said in front of a field of 168 bronze chairs, each engraved with the name of a bombing victim, at the Oklahoma City National Memorial and Museum.

“Our collective resolve to never let this happen is how we bear witness to the memory and the legacy of those who were killed and those who survived” the bombing, Durkovich told the crowd of more than 100 people as a woman in the crowd wiped tears from her face.

The nearly hour-and-half long ceremony began with 168 seconds of silence for each of those killed and ended with the reading of the names of each of the victims.

Durkovich was joined by Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland, Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt and Oklahoma City Mayor David Holt for the ceremony on a partly sunny, cool and windy morning for the 29th anniversary of the attack on the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building downtown.

“This is a place where Americans killed Americans,” and the lessons learned after the bombing should be used to address the “political vitriol” of today, Holt said.

“We don't want more places, and more days of remembrance. This should be enough,” Holt said.

The motives of the bombers included hate, intolerance, ignorance, bigotry, conspiracy theories, misinformation and “extreme political views,” Holt said.

Hatred of the federal government motivated former Army soldier Timothy McVeigh and co-conspirator, Terry Nichols, to commit the attack.

McVeigh’s hatred was specifically fueled by the government’s raid on the Branch Davidian religious sect near Waco, Texas, that left 76 people dead and a standoff in the mountains of Ruby Ridge, Idaho, that left a 14-year-old boy, his mother and a federal agent dead. He picked April 19 because it was the second anniversary of the Waco siege’s fiery end.

McVeigh was convicted, sentenced to death and executed by lethal injection in 2001. Nichols was sentenced to life in prison.

Stitt ordered American and state flags on state property to be flown at half-staff until 5 p.m. Friday in remembrance of those killed and injured in the bombing.

“As the world watched, Oklahomans banded together in a community-wide display of noble humanity,” Stitt said in a statement announcing the order.

FILE - Oklahoma City Mayor David Holt speaks Sept. 1, 2021, in Oklahoma City. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki, File)

FILE - In this April 19, 1995, file photo, Federal Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms agents and FBI agents survey the damage to the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building, following a car bomb blast in Oklahoma City, Okla. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer, File)

FILE - Member of the Department of Homeland Security Caitlin A. Durkovich speaks on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, Dec. 17, 2013. Durkovich said federal officials are resolved never to allow a terrorist attack like the Oklahoma City bombing happen again, deputy Homeland Security Advisor Caitlin Durkovich told survivors and loved ones of the 168 people killed in the April 19, 1995, Oklahoma City bombing Friday, April 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File)

FILE - This April 19, 1995 file photo shows the north side of the Alfred Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, after it was destroyed by a domestic terrorist's bomb killing 168 people. (AP Photo/File)