Al-Shabaab may be just a 'tool' in Somalia bombing, envoy says

ANKARA - Hürriyet Daily News

FM Davutoğlu visits the police officers who were wounded in the attack on Turkey’s mission in Mogadishu. AA photo

Al-Qaeda-linked al-Shabaab insurgents, who claimed responsibility for a suicide car bomb attack on the Turkish Embassy annex in Mogadishu on July 27 that killed a Turkish guard and a Somali bystander, may just be tools carrying out an “outsourced” attack, the Turkish Ambassador to Somalia has suggested.

“The al-Shabaab organization may have been used as ‘subcontractor’ in this attack,” Ambassador Cemalettin Kani Torun was quoted as saying by Anadolu Agency, in a report posted from Cairo on July 30.

Al-Shabaab fundamentalists have carried out a series of bombings, attacks and killings in a bid to overthrow the internationally backed government in Somalia.

In the Turkish capital, the Ankara Public Prosecutor’s Office has launched an investigation into the attack. The investigation was launched by the Ankara Public Prosecutor’s Office sua sponte (Latin: “of their own accord”) and is based on Article 13 of the Turkish Penal Code (TCK). Article 13 refers to which offences Turkish law should apply when committed in a foreign country, regardless of whether or not it is committed by a citizen of Turkey.

The autopsy report concerning the slain police officer from the Special Forces tasked with protecting the Embassy annex, Sinan Yılmaz, is also included in the investigation file.

No change in Turkey’s Somalia policy: FM

Elsewhere in Ankara, while officials reiterated Turkey’s resolve to continue its humanitarian assistance to Somalia’s people, three Turkish security officers who were wounded in the attack were discharged from hospital. The fourth officer, who underwent leg surgery, will have to stay at the hospital for a while although his health is good, said Safa Kapıcıoğlu, the director of the Atatürk Training and Research Hospital.

On the government front, speaking at a joint press conference following talks with Mexico’s visiting Foreign Minister José Antonio Meade Kurıbreña, Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu said Turkey’s policy concerning Somalia would not change, “no matter what the risks are.”

“Some terror elements who are annoyed at the normalization in Somalia and some circles who have been annoyed at Turkey’s activities on this subject in Somalia may have aimed at harming Turkey’s Somalia policy and its humane manner in Somalia through these kinds of attacks,” Davutoğlu said today.

For his part, Deputy Prime Minister Bekir Bozdağ delivered lengthy and exclusive remarks solely related to Somalia, speaking to Anadolu Agency.

“Our humanitarian assistance and our aid to our siblings there in the fields of health, education and infrastructure will continue without slowing down from now on. No power will be able to prevent us from giving this aid,” Bozdağ said.