The Al-Shabab terror group on Monday has claimed responsibility for the Saturday’s bombing in the Somali capital of Mogadishu that killed 92 people and left125 others injured.
In a message broadcast over Al-Shabab’s Radio Andalus, spokesman Ali Dheere said that the intended targets of the truck-bomb attack were Turks who travelled to the East African nation to work on infrastructure projects in cooperation with the Somali government, Efe news reported.
Dheere further said, “We will continue attacking the Turks who invade our country”.
NISA also said it would use assistance from an unnamed foreign intelligence organisation in its investigation.
Rage accused Turkey of “taking all resources of Somalia” and vowed to continue targeting their personnel in the country.
The attack took place in the early hours of Saturday after an alleged suicide bomber blew up a vehicle near a security checkpoint crowded with police patrol cars, students and street vendors.
Saturday’s attack was the third deadliest in Mogadishu’s recent history after an explosion in October 2011 killed more than 100 people.
During a press briefing, Somali President Mohamed Abdullahi Farmajo said, “I send my deepest condolences to the families and friends who have lost loved ones.
“It is clear that the terrorists will not leave a single person in this country”, he further added.
Mogadishu has witnessed repeated attacks from Al Shabab, a militant organization that pledged allegiance to al-Qaeda in 2012 and controls parts of central and southern Somalia.
In 2016, at least four persons were killed and several injured in an explosion outside a restaurant in the Somalia capital Mogadishu.
The United States has also sent around 500 troops into Somali territory and has carried out more than 60 drone attacks against alleged targets of Al Shabab this year, resulting in a number of civilian deaths and casualties.
Somalia has been in a state of war and upheaval since 1991, when former dictator Mohamed Siad Barre was overthrown, leaving the country without an effective government and vulnerable to Islamic radical militants, warlords, and criminal armed groups.