A roadside explosion claimed the lives of at least 11 people on Sunday, a week after a massacre caused by a truck bombing in Mogadishu, Somali. According to al-Jazeera, the roadside bomb targeted a minibus carrying mostly women farmers. The report referred to a witness named Mohamed Hasan who believed the intended targets were military soldiers. This is because prior to the explosion, he claimed that a Somali military vehicle passed the bomb prior to the explosion.

The minibus had been traveling from the farming town of Afgooye.

The truck bombing from a week ago claimed the lives of 356 people and injured over 400. According to the Associated Press': "somalia truck bombing toll over 300 as scores missing", said that the government of Somalia blamed the terrorist group al-Shabaab. The AP report said that the extremist group had not commented on the attack and according to another report by the Washington Post titled: "The latest: ambulance service says Mogadishu death up to 302", the group has claimed many recent attacks in Somalia but not the truck bombing.

As of this writing, the group has not claimed responsibility for the roadside bomb either.

Response to bombing

The October 14 bombing reportedly targeted a crowded street, which not only resulted in mass casualties but an estimated 56 people that as of Sunday were still unaccounted for. Many of those injured were severely burned and there were even reports of bodies being burned to ashes. Hospitals in Mogadishu were overwhelmed to the point where many of those critically injured were airlifted to Turkey for treatment. In the recent explosion, the same witness said there were charred bodies and body parts left behind. The Somalia government's information minister, Abdirahman Osman, had initially declared the previous bombing a national disaster.

After the bombing, the President of Somalia declared war on the terror group.

Many had compared it to others attacks from the past, such as one at Garissa University in Kenya in 2015, which killed 148. There were also comparisons to the US Embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998 which reportedly killed 219 people. An official from the US State Department admitted that the magnitude of the attack had caught everyone by surprise, but said that the Somalis had thwarted planned attacks. According to al-Jazeera's report: "Mogadishu: 11 killed week after deadliest blast", there have been 20 explosions since the beginning of the year that has claimed the lives of at least 500 people and injuring over 600.

Trump's war in Africa

While Kenya and Ethiopia had offered to send medical aid to the area after last week's massacre, the international community has also stepped in to provide aid. The US was not included as it was reported by multiple sources that Africa Command Forces have not been asked to help. Nonetheless, Michael Keating who is the UN's special envoy to Somalia said that they were working with the African Union to provide "logistical support, medical supplies, and expertise."The AP also reported that the US military had been carrying out drone strikes against al-Shabaab terrorists, who vowed to fight back against increased military measures.

According to All Africa's: "Africa: Is trump militarizing US-Africa policy?", it's assumed that the US's approach to Africa has become significantly militarized since Trump entered the Oval Office, expanded the US's shadow war throughout Africa.

Much of this can be confirmed with Trump easing the rules of engagement broadly across battlefield engagement with terrorists throughout the world. Further confirmation of this is seen with President Trump's demands to cut funding to the State Department and the United Nations that goes to providing Humanitarian Aid to Africa, in favor of a more militarised solution.