Wednesday August 31, 2016
Ankara will support Somalia to achieve peace, statement says
Turkey strongly condemned a militant attack on a hotel near the presidential palace in Somalia on Tuesday that killed at least 15 victims and injured more than 20 others, including MPs and ministers.
“Turkey is a friend and brother of the Somali people and we are determined to provide any kind of support to achieve peace” in Somalia, the Turkish ministry of foreign affairs said in a statement.
Turkey also expressed its condolences to the families of the victims of the attack in Mogadishu, according to the statement.
Al-Shabaab militants detonated a truck filled with explosives outside the SYL hotel that houses several government officials and diplomats.
A shopkeeper in Mogadishu told Anadolu Agency he saw clouds of smoke in the air.
“It’s a terrifying scene. I don’t know when we shall have peace in this country?” Ali Adhe said via telephone from Mogadishu.
Somalia’s al-Qaeda-affiliated al-Shabaab took to the pro-Shabaab Radio Andalus to claim responsibility for the attack that is in effort to overthrow the western-backed government.
The militant group has carried out several attacks in Somalia and neighboring Kenya, killing hundreds of innocent victims.