At least two people were killed and 20 wounded when a group of Turkish contractors were target by a suicide car bombing at a construction site along a highway outside Somalia's capital, police said Saturday.
Six Turkish nationals were among the wounded, with two in serious condition, Turkish Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said.
The Turkish construction workers appeared to be the bomber's target, Somali police Col. Abdi Abdullahi said.
"We heard a huge blast and soon clouds of smoke into the air. Before the blast, several Turkish engineers and well armed convoy of Somali police were at the scene," Farah Abdullahi, a shopkeeper, told Reuters from Afgoye.
Most of the casualties were police officers providing security for the Turkish workers constructing a highway between the capital, Mogadishu, and the agricultural town of Afgoye, 30 kilometers (18 miles) north of the city.
The al-Qaeda-linked al-Shabaab extremist group claimed responsibility for the attack, according to the group's radio arm, Andalus. Al-Shabaab often carries out such attacks in and near Mogadishu.
It has claimed responsibility for past attacks in its campaign to overturn Somalia's UN-backed government.
Turkish engineers are helping with road construction in Somalia. A group of engineers was among those hit in late December in a blast at a checkpoint in Mogadishu that killed at least 90 people.
