UAE to cover treatment cost for 100 Somalis injured in bombing

Children injured in the attack will also be cared for and medical supplies sent to hospitals in Mogadishu

Somali security forces and others gather and search for bodies near destroyed buildings at the scene of Saturday's blast, in Mogadishu, Somalia. Farah Abdi Warsameh / AP Photo

The UAE will cover treatment costs for 100 Somalis injured in Saturday's massive truck bomb in Mogadishu and will care for the children injured in the attacks.

President Sheikh Khalifa also ordered the delivery of  urgent medical supplies and medicine to Somali hospitals to help increase their capacity to treat the injured.

The aid is also in response to directives from Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces, and with the support of Sheikh Hamdan bin Zayed, Ruler's Representative in Al Dhafra and President of Emirates Red Crescent.

More than 300 people were killed and scores are still missing after one of the world's deadliest attacks in years hit the Somali capital on Saturday.

The same day, members of the UAE diplomatic mission at the UAE Embassy in Somalia donated blood to help those injured.

The Sheikh Zayed Hospital in the capital also received dozens of the wounded with medical staff treating various injuries, news agency Wam reported.

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The ERC has begun arrangements and co-ordinating with the UAE Embassy in Mogadishu to airlift seriously injured Somalis to Kenya for medical treatment. The ERC said it would do whatever it takes to provide healthcare to those injured and alleviate their suffering and comfort their families.

''The leadership's directives came within the UAE’s humanitarian efforts to alleviate the suffering of the Somali people and improve their humanitarian conditions,'' Sheikh Hamdan said.

''The UAE leadership has been following with grave concern the evolving developments in Somalia given the tragic consequences on the Somali people who have been experiencing scourges of conflicts and disasters,'' he said.

''The ERC will spare no effort to undertake its humanitarian duty towards the Somali people until their plight is over,'' he said.

Sheikh Hamdan also said the ERC would take care of 300 orphans, who lost their families in the explosions, for six months, after which they will be included in the orphans’ sponsorship programme.

The UAE provides significant support to Somalia, especially in humanitarian, educational, and health fields.

In April, an Emirates Red Crescent convoy was hit by a bomb in Mogadishu but its team escaped without injury.