In Somalia, a car bomb exploded outside a restaurant in Somalia’s capital Mogadishu on Sunday night, killing five and injuring 20 as patrons were watching the final of the Euro 2024 football tournament on TV, police said, blaming Islamist insurgents.
The bomb destroyed 10 cars and damaged several buildings nearby in a well-guarded area near the Presidential Palace, a Reuters reporter said.
Pictures posted online showed a huge fireball and smoke billowing out into the night sky as the explosion ripped through the restaurant packed with football fans.
The National News Agency of Somalia said “A car bomb detonated outside Top Coffee Restaurant placed by Kharjite terrorists,” using the term officials adopt to describe the Al-Qaeda linked Al-Shabaab jihadist group.
Police have cordoned off the blast site which is close to the presidential compound known as Villa Somalia.
Al Shabaab militants claimed responsibility for the attack on an affiliated radio station, saying the bombing targeted a place where security and government workers meet at night.
The Islamist group, which once ruled much of Somalia, has been fighting for years to impose its strict interpretation of Islam on Somalia.
The insurgents have frequently launched raids and deadly attacks in Mogadishu and other regions controlled by the federal government in the last two years, despite losing large swathes of territory to government forces and their allies.
Al Shabaab has carried out a vicious and brutal 17-year-long war against the Somali federal government and has taken a bloody toll in bomb attacks all over the capital Mogadishu.
Although there has been a lull in such attacks given the government offensive against the jihadists, they clearly still retain the capacity to strike at will.
Over the weekend, five Al-Shabaab fighters were killed in a shootout with guards at Mogadishu’s main prison while attempting to break out. Prison officials said they had managed to get hold of weapons, how and what kind is not clear.
