Turkey donated 22 military vehicles to Somalia, including eight Mine-Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) vehicles.
The military vehicles were handed over to officials of the Somali Ministry of Defense and Army who included Gen. Yusuf Rage Odowaa, the head of the Somali National Armed Forces.
The hand over took part in the capital Mogadishu on Aug 15. and Turkish Ambassador Mehmet Yilmaz and military officials attended the ceremony.
The MRAP vehicles will greatly boost Somali Elite Gorgor Commandos capacity to fight against the Islamist Al-Qaeda affiliated terrorist group Al-Shabaab wrecking havoc in the Horn of Africa nation.
“Glad to participate in the handover ceremony of 8 fully armored Mine-Resistant Ambush Protected ‘Kirpi’ military vehicles and 14 military trucks donated by Turkey to Somali National Army,” the Turkish envoy said in a short statement on the embassy’s Twitter page.
Turkish forces have also been training Somali soldiers in Mogadishu and Turkey. The 15th batch of Somalia’s Haramcad Special Forces completed their training by Turkish personnel at the TURKSOM Military Training Center, the Turkish Embassy added on another tweet.
