MOGADISHU (Reuters) - More than 300 people died after twin bomb explosions in Mogadishu, an official said on Monday, as locals packed hospitals in search of friends and relatives caught up in Somalias deadliest attack in a decade.

The death toll has steadily risen since Saturday, when the blasts - for which no organisation had claimed responsibility by Monday morning - struck at two busy junctions in the heart of the city.

We have confirmed 300 people died in the blast. The death toll will still be higher because some people are still missing, Abdikadir Abdirahman, the director of the citys ambulance service, told Reuters on Monday.

Aden Nur, a doctor at the citys Madina hospital, said they had recorded 258 deaths while Ahmed Ali, a nurse at the nearby Osman Fiqi hospital, told Reuters five bodies had been sent there.

Nur said 160 of the bodies could not be recognized. (They)were buried by the government yesterday. The others were buried by their relatives. Over a hundred injured were also brought here, he told Reuters at the hospital.