Somalia: Al-Shabaab claims responsibility for Mogadishu bomb attack

MOGADISHU, Somalia - The Al-Qaeda-linked Somalia-based militant group Al-Shabaab has on Monday claimed responsibility for Saturday's deadly truck bomb attack in Mogadishu, Garowe Online reports.

The blast, the deadliest in 2019 claimed the lives of 85 people, including women and children while wounding more than 145, some of them are still missing and presumed dead, according to national-level emergency committee. 

In a press confrence for pro-Al-Shabaab media, the group's spokesman Ali Dhere said they have targeted a convoy carrying Turkish nationals at Ex-control Afgoye junction in the west of the capital.

The spokesman has not disclosed the number of the Turkish citizens killed in the devastating explosion. "We will continue attacking Turks who invaded our country," he said.

Ali Dhere added that his group is sorry about the deaths of the civilians and offered condolences to the families who lost their loved ones in the suicide car bomb attack and wishes quick recovery for the injured.

The statement comes hours after Somalia's spy agency [NISA] released a statement accusing unnamed foreign country of planning the attack, contradicting President Farmajo who previously blamed Al-Shabaab for the bombing.

Turkey's Foreign Ministry has confirmed two Turkish citizens have been killed in the attack whose bodies were airlifted back to thei country on Sunday by a Military plane from Mogadishu with 16 badly wounded Somalis.

GAROWE ONLINE