Uae Airlifts Mogadishu Blast Victims For Treatment

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) on Sunday sent an air ambulance to transfer more than a dozen people who had been injured in a suicide blast in Somali capital Mogadishu last month.



"Thirteen of those who had been wounded in the attack on Central Hotel, including two government officials, were sent for treatment in the Emirates," Somali Foreign Minister Abdisalam Hadliye Omar told a press conference on Sunday in Mogadishu.



"The [UAE] was the first country to respond to the Somali government's emergency alert after the explosion on February 20," Omar said.



He added that a second group of Somalis injured in the bombing will be airlifted to the Emirates for treatment within the next few days.



Health Minister Hawa Hassan Mohamed has said that her government was coordinating with neighboring countries to receive those who need treatment abroad out of 40 people who were injured in the blast.



The Al-Qaeda-linked Al-Shabaab militant group had claimed responsibility for the twin suicide blast which targeted a hotel in Mogadishu, leaving 25 people dead – including the two perpetrators and two lawmakers – and over 40 injured, including a former deputy prime minister and two current ministers.



Al-Shabaab, which has launched an insurgency against Mogadishu in recent years, has recently suffered several significant blows, losing most of its strongholds in southern and central Somalia to government and African Union troops.



Several group members have also recently been killed in U.S. drone strikes.



However, the group has continued to launch deadly attacks on government officials and security troops.



www.aa.com.tr/en - Banaadir