UPDATE - Somalia: 4 civilians killed by roadside bomb in capital

UPDATED WITH MORE DETAILS; REVISES HEADLINE, LEDE; EDITS THROUGHOUT

By Tufan Aktas and Mohammed Dhaysane

ISTANBUL, Turkey / MOGADISHU, Somalia (AA) – At least four civilians were killed Thursday – including a mother and child – by a roadside bomb in Mogadishu, Somalia’s capital, according to a government official.

The blast “killed four people, all of them civilians, including a woman and her child, and three others were also wounded," Abdullahi Abukar, a police official in Mogadishu, told Anadolu Agency.

The explosion in the Hodan district took place near a Turkish-run Maarif Foundation school, and it targeted military vehicles passing through, said Somali government spokesman Ismael Mukhtar Omar.

Cihad Demirli, a member of Maarif’s board, told Anadolu Agency that the bomb went off some 150 meters (492 feet) from the school but luckily no school personnel were harmed.

Demirli said that no students and teachers were there as schools are currently closed.

He expressed sympathy with the people of Somalia and said the Maarif Foundation wishes a speedy recovery to the injured.

According to eyewitnesses, the sound of the explosion was heard in surrounding areas.

The injured were taken to the local Fiqi Hospital.

No one has yet claimed responsibility for the attack and no arrests have been made, but al-Qaeda-affiliated terror group al-Shabaab had carried out recent attacks in the country.

After defeating a 2016 coup attempt, the Turkish government set up the Maarif Foundation to give responsible administration to overseas schools linked to the Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO), the group behind the coup bid.

The foundation has also established new schools and education centers across Africa and Asia.

FETO and its US-based leader Fetullah Gulen orchestrated the defeated coup, which left 251 people martyred and nearly 2,200 injured.