Al Qaeda ally claims responsibility for Somalia blast that killed 90 people
The bombing was the deadliest in more than two years in a country wrecked by nearly three decades of violence and clan warfare.
In an audio message, al Qaeda-allied al Shabaab claimed responsibility for the bombing at the busy Ex-Control checkpoint northwest of Mogadishu.
“The blast targeted a convoy of Turkish and Somali forces and they suffered a great loss,” Ali Mohamud Rage, al Shabaab’s spokesperson said in the message.
The National Intelligence and Security Agency did not name the country that it said was involved in the blast. “A foreign country planned the massacre of the Somalis in Mogadishu on 28 Dec 2019,” it said in a tweet.
NISA also said it would use assistance from an unnamed foreign intelligence organisation in its investigation.
Death toll in Mogadishu bomb blast rises to 76
Rage accused Turkey of “taking all resources of Somalia” and vowed to continue targeting their personnel in the country.
“We shall always fight...the Turkish who work with the apostate government of Turkey. We are not against innocent Turkish Muslim citizens,” he said.
Two of those killed were Turkish nationals. A small team of Turkish engineers was present at the time of the blast, constructing a road into the city.
In recent years, Somalia has become an arena for military and diplomatic rivalry between Turkey and Qatar on one side and Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates on the other.
Al Shabaab frequently carries out bombings to try to undermine Somalia’s central government, which is backed by the United Nations and African Union peacekeeping troops.
The most deadly attack blamed on al Shabaab was in 2017 when a truck bomb exploded next to a fuel tanker in Mogadishu, killing nearly 600.
COMMENTS
Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.
For more information, please see our Comments FAQ