A roadside blast claimed by the Al-Qaeda-linked militant group Al-Shabaab struck a vehicle transporting Turkish nationals in Somalia’s capital, Mogadishu, injuring four people, the head of local ambulance service said on Thursday.
The explosion targeted a NOAH vehicle ferrying Turkish nationals in the city’s Hodan district as the Horn of Africa country gears up for presidential vote.
Director of local ambulance service Abdulkadir Adan said their “rescue team has assisted 4 Turkish citizens injured in an explosion in Mogadishu”.
In a statement on affiliated media, Al-Shabaab armed group said it was behind the attack targeting foreign nationals “part of those who have invaded Somalia” and the “operation was executed as planned”. The group did not say if there were casualties as a result of its assault.
Somali security officials have not immediately commented on the explosion, the latest in a series of attacks carried out by militants in Mogadishu and other cities in Somalia over the past weeks amid ongoing polls.
