Car Bomb Explode At Mogadishu Hotel Where Turkish Delegate Were Meeting In Somalia

January 23, 2015 11:36 AM

A suicide car exploded at a Mogadishu hotel where Turkish delegates were meeting on Thursday

In Somalia, a suicide car has a exploded at a Mogadishu hotel where Turkish delegates were meeting on Thursday, a day ahead of a visit by their President, Tayyip Erdogan, to the Somali capital.

Three people were killed in the attack, including two security officers and a hotel employee.

No members of a Turkish delegation were harmed in the attack, according to Turkish Foreign Ministry official.

Eyewitness Abdukadir Munin told the AFP news agency he saw a vehicle "speeding along the main road and the driver turned into the Hotel SYL gate".

"There was a huge explosion, smoke and shrapnel. Several people were down on the ground. I don't know if they were dead," he said.

Erdogan became the first non-African leader to visit wartorn 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.