Mogadishu

The number of people killed in twin car bombings in the Somali capital Mogadishu, claimed by Al-Shabaab Islamists, has risen to 100, President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud said on Sunday.

"So far, the number of people who died has reached 100 and 300 are wounded, and the number for both the death and wounded continues to increase," he said after visiting the blast location.

Somalis anxiously waited to know the fate of their missing relatives on Sunday as emergency workers attempted to clear debris after a deadly 30-hour siege by Al-Shabaab jihadists at a hotel in the capital Mogadishu.

At least eight civilians have been killed in a militant attack on a popular hotel in the Somali capital, an official said on Aug. 20, as security forces continued to battle gunmen barricaded inside.

Fighters from the Al-Qaeda-linked Al-Shabaab stormed the Hayat Hotel in Mogadishu on Friday evening in a hail of gunfire and bomb blasts, trapping scores of people.

Award-winning Somali poet Mohamed Ibrahim Warsame, better-known by his pen name Hadraawi, died on Aug. 18 aged 79, prompting a flood of tributes to the "Shakespeare of Somalia."

Hadraawi died in a hospital in Hargeisa, the capital of the breakaway region of Somaliland, after battling ill health for the past seven years.

The Somali National Army (SNA) received military vehicles, including trucks and ambulances, donated by Turkey on Nov. 16 as part of Ankara's support for the nation's military.

Senior military officials received the donation after a ceremony at the Turkish Embassy in the capital of Mogadishu.

Turkey on April 3 strongly condemned deadly terror attacks in Somalia.

"We are saddened to receive the news that many soldiers and civilians lost their lives in Somalia today [April 3] in the terrorist attacks targeting the Somali National Army troops and innocent civilians," the Turkish Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

Turkey on Feb. 21 expressed concern over unrest in Somalia as tension rises due to delayed elections in the country.

"We are concerned about the recent negative developments arising from the dispute over the election process in Somalia," the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

Turkey's Foreign Ministry on Jan. 31 "strongly condemned" the terrorist attack in the Somalian capital Mogadishu.

In a statement, the ministry said: "We wish Allah's mercy upon those who lost their lives and a speedy recovery to the injured."

It added that Turkey will continue to stand by the government and people of Somalia in their fight against terrorism.

Turkish families in the northern province of Çorum and the capital Ankara are mourning for their loved ones who lost their lives in Jan. 2's deadly terror attack in Somalia.

The suicide attack killed five people, including two Turkish nationals Selami Aydoğdu and Erdinc Genç, the employees of a Turkish company in the Somalian capital Mogadishu, and injured several others.

Turkey on Jan. 2 strongly condemned a "heinous" terror attack targeting employees of a Turkish company that undertook the Mogadishu-Afgoye road construction and "contributes to the development and prosperity" of Somalia.