The Somali National Intelligence and Security Agency said that a foreign country planned the bombing that took place last Saturday in a crowded area in the capital Mogadishu, which resulted in about 250 dead and injured, while Qatar and Turkey are helping to contain the effects of the attack by treating the injured and providing medical aid to Somalia.
The Somali intelligence added in a tweet on Twitter published today, Monday, that it had provided preliminary information to senior government officials about the fact that a foreign country - unnamed - was behind the bombing.
She added that she will cooperate with a number of international intelligence services to uncover the circumstances of the bombing, in which a truck bomb was used.
No one has claimed responsibility for the attack in the Afgoye district of Mogadishu, but Somali President Mohamed Abdullah Vermajo accused the Somali Mujahideen Movement - linked to al-Qaeda - of carrying it out.
Al-Jazeera correspondent in Mogadishu Omar Mahmoud stated that what the foreign intelligence relies on in assuming responsibility for the attack of a foreign country is preliminary information, and that it is working on collecting more information in order to reach final results.
The Somali Agency was quoted as saying that it is seeking the assistance of experts and intelligence agencies from friendly countries to complete the investigations.
He pointed out that the preliminary information reached by the Somali intelligence supports what the Somalis believe that foreign countries in the region and abroad are involved in fueling the explosions by providing the executing agencies with explosives or providing them with logistical support.
| Turkish plane transported a number of wounded (Anatolia) |
Medical support
Meanwhile, Qatar today sent a plane carrying four tons of medical materials and first aid to Somalia in support of the injured from the Mogadishu bombing.
The Qatar News Agency said that a plane belonging to the Qatar Air Force transported an integrated medical and relief team comprising 25 people from various medical and relief specialties.
She added that the Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, had issued directives to send aid, while the Qatar Development Fund, in cooperation with the permanent Qatari Committee for Rescue, Relief and Humanitarian Aid, had begun to work towards this.
The agency added that he will transfer a number of the wounded from the bombing to complete the necessary treatment in Qatar. Qatar has previously transferred people injured in similar bombings to hospitals in Doha.
A Turkish plane yesterday transported a number of people injured in the bombing, which occurred last Saturday in Mogadishu, and among the dead were two Turkish citizens.
A day after the Mogadishu bombing, the African Command of the American Forces, known as AFRICOM, announced the news of the killing of four Somali youth movement fighters in three air strikes in coordination with the Somali government forces on two sites in the south of the country.
Since 2015, Somalia has witnessed several violent attacks by al-Shabaab, and the bloodiest attack in the country's history took place in October 2017 in Mogadishu, killing 512 people and wounding about 295.