'A dark day for my community': Ottawa Somalis react to Saturday bombing

Members of Ottawa's Somali community are coming together to support each other and consider possible responses to Saturday's deadly bombing in Mogadishu.

Farah Aw-Osman, executive director of Canadian Friends of Somalia, said his group is looking at a range of options, including fundraising for the victims and appealing to the Canadian government to assist Somalia with the recovery and identification of the dead.

"We are very shocked, and dismayed," Aw-Osman said. "This is a very savage act of terrorism."

The truck bombing targeted a crowded street in Mogadishu on Saturday, killing more than 300 people and wounding about 300 others. Somalia's government is blaming the al-Qaeda-linked al-Shabab extremist group.

Aw-Osman said an Ottawa man lost his brother in Saturday's blast. 

"It took hours and hours to recover his body," Aw-Osman said.

'Too sad to think about'

At a commercial building on Ottawa's Terminal Avenue, a steady trickle of Somalis gathered to shop at the plaza's clothing boutiques.

At Hella Clothing and Variety, owner Amina Ali said she was torn between seeking updates on the attack and trying to ignore what she called an event "too sad to think about."

"It is a dark day for my community," Ali said. "It touches every Somali around the world, wherever we are."

Ali, who came to Canada 27 years ago, said she had tried to reach relatives in Mogadishu but that there was continuing confusion about the names of the victims.

"We still don't know if our family is included. We don't know yet."

Aw-Osman said he was happy to see Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Ottawa police Chief Charles Bordeleau express condolences and sympathy for the victims of the attack.

Aw-Osman said members of the community will gather Monday night to discuss how to go forward.