More than 30 dead in Somalia bombing

(CNN) -- A truck filled with explosives barreled into a government complex in the heart of Somalia's restive capital on Tuesday, a brazen strike killing students registering for an education program.

More than 30 people were killed, said Lt. Col. Paddy Nkunda, an African Union forces spokesman. Along with the students and parents, the casualties included several federal government soldiers, the AU forces said.

''This is a carnage," said Col. Abdullahi Barise, the spokesman of the Somali police. Barise blamed Al-Shabaab, the Islamist movement with links to al Qaeda. But there has been no immediate claim of responsibility.

Nkunda said the truck slammed into the gate of a complex containing several government ministries, including the education ministry, and a number of the buildings have collapsed.

He said that the majority of those killed were students and their parents who were registering for a Turkish education program. The Somali government, which condemned the attack, said the people were waiting "for results of scholarships." It said no senior government official was hurt.

Al-Shabaab is a group in Somalia that was designated as a foreign terrorist organization by the United States government in March 2008. It is waging a war against Somalia's government in an effort to implement a stricter form of Islamic law, or Sharia.

Federal and African Union forces in the impoverished and chaotic nation have battled the group for years. Many analysts believe that Al-Shabaab has been severely weakened by the African Union Mission in Somalia, targeted strikes against foreign members, and the weakening of al Qaeda.

Nkunda said forces have pushed Al-Shabaab outside most of Mogadishu but the group poses a major threat.

"They left the city but they are now moving into asymmetrical attacks -- suicide bombings, snipers, and kidnapping and other non-conventional means," said Nkunda, "We are here to stop Al-Shabaab so we are very concerned and we condemn this barbaric attack on innocent students and their parents."

Suicide attacks were unheard of in Somalia before 2007, but security analysts believe the attacks emerged because of the influence of foreign fighters.

Militants targeted students in December 2009 when a male suicide bomber dressed in women's clothing attacked a medical school graduation ceremony in Mogadishu.

The troubled Horn of Africa nation has been beset by human rights abuses, drought, famine, as well as fighting across the country. More than 300,000 people have been forced to flee Somalia, with many headed to refugee camps in Kenya, the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees said Tuesday.

The refugee agency said it is "very concerned" about fighting on the Somalia-Kenyan border, where there have been reports of clashes between Al-Shabaab and federal forces.

Violence has occurred around the Somalia town of Dobley, a main transit point for Somalis heading to the Dadaab refugee complex in Kenya.

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