TEHRAN — Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Abbas Mousavi has denounced a terrorist attack in Somalia’s capital, Mogadishu, which has killed and injured dozens of people.

In a statement on Saturday evening, Mousavi offered his condolences to families of the victims of the terrorist attack, according to the Foreign Ministry website.

The attack, the deadliest in more than two years in Somalia, took place earlier in the day in Mogadishu. It killed at least 90 people and injured dozens more.

It came after a bomb-laden truck exploded at a checkpoint in Mogadishu.

Many students, some 17 police forces and foreign nationals were among those killed in the attack, authorities said.

Other sources suggested the toll could be much higher than 90 as the attack occurred during the morning rush hour and in a busy day in Somalia, a country in the Horn of Africa region.

Hospital sources said more than 100 wounded people had been referred to the health facilities after the attack.

Authorities, including Mogadishu Mayor Omar Muhamoud, blamed al-Shabaab, a notorious terrorist group linked to al-Qaeda, for the attack although there has been no claim of responsibility from the group, Press TV reported.

Al-Shabaab was forced out of Mogadishu in 2011, but violence still rages around the city and in other parts of the country.

The group has also been responsible for high-profile attacks in Kenya mainly because the neighboring country has launched a military intervention in Somalia.

MH/PA