MOGADISHU (Somaliguardian) – Suicide bombing has targeted Turkish nationals and their security guards in a neighborhood on the outskirts of Somalia’s capital, Mogadishu, Somali officials have confirmed on Saturday.
A man wearing explosive vest blew himself up at a gathering of Turkish engineers constructing a 30 km highway linking Mogadishu and Afgoye early on Saturday morning.
The attack took place while engineers were engaged in the construction work amid heavy police presence and gunfire had been heard shortly before the explosion.
Somali government spokesman Mohamed Ibrahim Moalimu condemned the attack and confirmed that a Turkish engineer and 3 police officers were killed in the suicide bombing.
Al-Qaeda-affiliated militant group Al-Shabaab said it had carried out the attack targeting “foreign Turkish nationals” and Turkish-trained special police officers protecting their security.
It claimed to have killed a Turkish engineer and two officers of the Turkish-trained Haram’ad police unit.
Turkish local media has reported that at least five Turkish engineers were wounded – one of them seriously – in the attack on the outskirts of Mogadishu.
Somali government has not immediately commented on the attack.
Turkish engineers reconstructing Mogadishu-Afgoye highway have come under many attacks from militants since embarking on the renovation work last year. A number of Turkish engineers and their Somali security guards have since been killed, and the construction work stopped early last year, though it has later resumed.
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