AKIPRESS.COM - The numbers of dead surged from 20 on Saturday night to more than 270 and counting after a double truck bombing shattered the night in Mogadishu, Somalia on October 14,  according to government officials.

More than 300 people were injured. “This is the deadliest incident I ever remember” since the 1990s, when the government collapsed, a shaken Senator Abshir Ahmed said in a Facebook posting.

The attack came as the United States under President Trump has made a renewed push to defeat the Shabab, Somali-based militants who have terrorized the country and East Africa for years, killing civilians across borders, worsening famine and destabilizing a broad stretch of the region, NYTimes reported. While no one had yet claimed responsibility for the bombings, suspicion immediately fell on the group, which frequently targets the capital, Mogadishu.

The Shabab — which once controlled most of the city — have lost much of their territory in recent years, the result of attacks by African Union forces, a fitfully strengthening Somali Army and increasing American air power. But the group remains a potent killing force, despite years of American counterterrorism operations.

Some of the militants have proclaimed allegiance to Al Qaeda, while others support the Islamic State.