Somalia says unnamed country behind blast that killed 90 people

Somalia said an unnamed country helped plan Saturday’s bomb explosion in Mogadishu that killed at least 90 people, and added it would investigate the assault with help from a foreign intelligence agency.

The bombing was the deadliest in more than two years in a country wrecked by nearly three decades of militant violence and clan warfare.

“A foreign country planned the massacre of the Somalis in Mogadishu on December 28, 2019,” the National Intelligence and Security Agency (NISA) said in a tweet on Monday.

NISA said it would use assistance from an unnamed foreign intelligence organization in its investigation.
No one has claimed responsibility for the bombing at the busy Ex-Control checkpoint in the northwest of Mogadishu.

However, Mogadishu mayor Omar Muhamoud blamed al-Qaeda-linked militant group al-Shabaab.

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.