MOGADISHU (Somaliguardian) – Five people, including 2 Turkish nationals were killed and at least 14 others wounded after a suicide bomber attacked a road construction site outside Somalia’s capital, Mogadishu on Saturday.
Turkish Foreign Ministry said the attack took place at an area between Mogadishu and Afgoye where road construction undertaken by a Turkish company was underway, which is part of a project funded by the Qatari government.
The Ministry condemned the attack and noted that Turkey will continue standing by Somali government.
Turkish Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said the number of Turkish nationals killed in the bombing had risen to 2 after another citizen succumbed to injuries.
In a statement on Twitter, Mr Koca confirmed that 14 injured people, 3 of them Turkish were being treated at a Turkish-run hospital in the Somali capital, Mogadishu.
Al-Qaeda-linked militant group Al-Shabaab said it had carried out the attack, claiming to have killed a Turkish engineer and 2 Somali police officers.
Somali government spokesman Mohamed Ibrahim Moalimu condemned the bombing and said their thoughts went out to the families of those killed. He put the death toll at 4, among them a Turkish engineer and 3 officers of Turkish-trained special police unit.
The attack took place in the village of Lafole, some 22 km (13 miles) southwest of the capital Mogadishu and is deadliest to have targeted Turkish engineers reconstructing Mogadishu-Afgoye highway over the past few months.
A number of Turkish engineers and workers have lost their lives in Al-Shabaab attacks since the renovation of the road began last year.
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