Somalia: Bomb kills 2 civilians outside Turkish base

MOGADISHU, Somalia

Three people, including a suicide bomber, were killed Tuesday morning in an attack outside a Turkish military base in Somalia’s capital.

Somali government spokesman Ismail Mukhtar Oronjo told Anadolu Agency that security guards shot the bomber, who was trying to enter the military facility in Mogadishu.

"He pretended to be a trainee at the Turkey-Somali military academy but was shot and exploded outside the camp, killing himself and two civilians," Oronjo said.

No Somali soldiers or Turkish nationals were killed or injured in the attack, he added.

Turkey’s National Defense Ministry condemned the attack.

“We severely curse the terrorist group which carried out this bloody attack, and its supporters, and express our condolences and get-well soon wishes to the people of Somalia,” the ministry said on Twitter.

“We will not forsake our Somali brothers in their fight against terrorist organizations.”

No group has yet claimed responsibility for the attack, but al-Shabaab militants have been known to conduct attacks in the East African country.

Turkey's military training facility – its largest military facility abroad – was built in 2017 in the Somali capital Mogadishu. It has the capacity to train more than 1,500 Somali security forces at a time.

Turkey has strong historical ties with Somalia on the principle of “win-win” relations, including more than 150 development aid projects carried out by the Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency (TIKA) since 2011.