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Sorry - this page has been removed. Suicide bomb kills two in Mogadishu ahead of visit by Turkish president
(3 months later)
This could be because it launched early, our rights have expired, there was a legal issue, or for another reason. A suicide car bomb exploded at the gate of a Mogadishu hotel where Turkish delegates were meeting on Thursday, the day before a visit by their president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, to the Somali capital, police said.
At least two police officers were killed but none of the Turkish delegates was wounded in the attack, which was claimed by Islamist al-Shabaab rebels, said officials.
For further information, please contact: Erdoğan planned to go ahead with his trip, a source at his office in Ankara said. Turkey’s prime minister, Ahmet Davutoğlu, said an investigation was under way to see if the delegation was deliberately targeted.
Al-Shabaab, which has carried out attacks across east Africa including a 2013 raid on a Nairobi shopping mall that killed 67, claimed responsibility for the assault but did not mention the Turkish delegation or Erdoğan.
“We attacked (the) hotel and killed several of the Somali police officers who were meeting there,” al-Shabaab’s military operation spokesman, Sheikh Abdiasis Abu Musab, said.
A witness saw two police officers lying dead in front of the destroyed gate, and what appeared to be the mangled body of the suicide bomber.
“The Turkish delegates are safe inside the hotel,” police captain, Farah Nur, said. “The hotel was busy.”
Erdoğan became the first non-African leader to visit war-torn Somalia in nearly 20 years when he travelled there in 2011 as Turkey’s prime minister.
Turkey is a key ally of the Somali government. It was a major contributor to the humanitarian aid effort at the height of the 2011 famine and Ankara continues to build hospitals and dispatch aid across Somalia.