Mogadishu, October 16 (RHC-Agencies) --The death toll in the bombing that hit the center of Mogadishu on Saturday continues to rise, with more than 300 people now believed to have been killed and hundreds more seriously wounded.

The scale of the loss makes the attack, which involved a truck packed with several hundred kilograms of military-grade and homemade explosives, one of the most lethal terrorist acts anywhere in the world for many years.

On Monday morning, Somalia’s information minister announced that 276 people had died in the attack with at least 300 people injured. However, Abdikadir Abdirahman, the director of Amin ambulances, said his service had confirmed that 300 people died in the blast.

Rescue workers said a definitive death toll may never be established because the intense heat generated by the blast meant the remains of many people would not be found.

Michael Keating, the UN special envoy to Somalia, called the attack “revolting”.

The president, Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed, declared three days of national mourning and joined thousands of people who responded to a plea by hospitals to donate blood for the wounded.