The death toll from Somalia’s deadly blast has risen to 53, with more than 60 others injured, AP news agency reports.

That figure is however expected to rise, with rescue operations still on-going in the capital, Mogadishu.

A car bomb exploded on Saturday evening in a busy street in the center of the city, a blast our reporter based there describes as the biggest he’s heard in years.

I’ve lived and worked in #Mogadishu for eight years now but I’ve never seen / heard of anything like Saturday’s truck bomb at KM5. #Somalia.

— Abdulaziz Billow Ali (@AbdulBillowAli) October 14, 2017

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack, though pointers indicate it could have been staged by jihadist group al-Shabaab.

The militant group has waged a near-decade-long war in the Horn of African nation, aiming to topple the government and instill a strict sharia-based system of governance.

The war has killed tens of thousands and displaced millions others.

The country’s president Mohamed Abdullahi ‘Farmajo’ has declared three days of national mourning following that attack.