Car bomb blast on Turkish office in Somalia kills three

2013-10-09 119

Originally published on July 28, 2013

A car filled with explosives rammed into an office housing that was housing Turkish embassy staff in the Somali capital of Mogadishu Saturday, killing three people. Islamist al Shabaab rebels have claimed responsibility for the attack.

According to Reuters, "Al Shabaab was pushed out of bases in Mogadishu by Somali and African forces about two years ago, raising hopes of a return to relative security in a city hit by years of war.
But the militants have kept up guerrilla-style attacks and continue to control large rural areas, challenging the authority of a government less than a year old.

"The group has carried out several brazen attacks in the past two months, including one on an African peacekeeping convoy that killed eight and another on the main U.N. compound in Mogadishu that killed 22 people.

"'A suicide car bomb targeted a building housing Turkish embassy workers near K4 (Kilometre Four),' police officer Ahmed Mohamud told Reuters from the scene of the blast.

"Three people were killed and nine others were wounded, he said.

"'The car was taking advantage of a Turkish car that was going into the building, thus the car bomb exploded and destroyed the gate,' he said.

"A Turkish government official told Reuters that one Turkish security officer was killed when the mission's guards clashed with the attackers as they attempted to enter the complex.

"Three Turkish officers were being treated for their wounds, Turkey's Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

"Al Shabaab, which said earlier this month it would increase attacks during the Ramadan fasting period, claimed responsibility for the bombing on its Twitter feed."

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