Somalia says unnamed country behind blast that killed 90 people, Al-Shabaab militants say responsible for the attack

Reuters/NAN: Somalia says an unnamed country helped plan Saturday’s bomb explosion in Mogadishu that killed no fewer than 90 people.
Al-Shabaab militants have claimed responsibility for the bombing at the busy Ex-Control checkpoint in the northwest of Mogadishu. According to an AFP report

The National Intelligence and Security Agency (NISA) said in a tweet on Monday. It claimed that a foreign country planned the massacre of the Somalis in Mogadishu on December 28

The bombing was the deadliest in more than two years in a country wrecked by nearly three decades of Islamist violence and clan warfare. NISA added it would investigate the assault with help from a foreign intelligence agency.

NISA said it would use assistance from an unnamed foreign intelligence organisation in its investigation.

Earlier, Mogadishu mayor Omar Muhamoud blamed al Qaeda-linked Islamist group al Shabaab who have claimed responsibility for the attack.

Report says the group carries out frequent bombings to try to undermine Somalia’s central government, which is backed by the United Nations and African Union peacekeeping troops.

The most deadly attack blamed on al Shabaab was in 2017 when a truck bomb exploded next to a fuel tanker in Mogadishu, killing almost 600.

In recent years, Somalia has become an arena for military and diplomatic rivalry between Turkey and Qatar on one side, with Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates on the other.