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37 Somali blast injured arrive in Turkey for treatment

By AFP
Somalia A cloud of smoke is seen on October 4, after a suicide attack in Somalia's capital Mogadishu.  By  AFPFile
OCT 6, 2011 LISTEN
A cloud of smoke is seen on October 4, after a suicide attack in Somalia's capital Mogadishu. By (AFP/File)

ANKARA (AFP) - Thirty-seven Somalis who were seriously wounded in a massive truck bombing in Mogadishu that killed more than 70 arrived in Ankara on Thursday for treatment, Turkey's Anatolia news agency reported.

The injured were flown out of the restive Somali capital on a Turkish Airlines plane and were received at Ankara airport by Health Minister Recep Akdag and Deputy Prime Minister Bekir Bozdag.

A suicide bomber on Tuesday detonated an explosives-laden truck at a government compound in Mogadishu, unleashing a powerful blast that mowed down dozens and wounded more than 100 others.

Witnesses said the devastation was the worst they had ever seen since Somalia plunged into a civil war two decades ago. The Shebab launched a bloody uprising in 2007 against the Western-backed transitional government.

It was also the first attack since the insurgents pulled out of Mogadishu in August in a move they said was a change of military tactics.

The group has vowed more attacks and said the blast was aimed as a warning to African forces propping Somalia's weak Western-backed transitional government.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan visited Mogadishu in August.

© 2011 AFP

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