Al-Shabaab claims responsibility for deadly attack at Somali restaurant

Al-Shabaab claimed responsibility for the deadly attack of a restaurant not far from a recently opened Turkish embassy in Mogadishu on Thursday.

The bomb attack killed 10 people.

“It was the vehicle behind me. Thank God I survived. The car that exploded passed me twice. When I heard the explosion, I jumped out of my car and ran for life,” said Asha Hassan, a survivor.

Somali police engaged the attackers in a six-hour gun battle inside this restaurant.

The driver of this vehicle has also been nabbed by the intelligence forces. He is being treated at a nearby hospital.

The damage in the restaurant is very visible.

“The first explosion went off at around 7:30 pm. We were serving a lot of customers. After we heard the gunfire and the blast we hid inside the restaurant before jumping out of one of the windows, fleeing to the beach,” said Abubakar Mohamed, an employee of the Banadir Beach Restaurant.

Earlier in January, al-Shabaab launched an attack at a popular seafront restaurant called Liido, killing 20 people, mostly women and children.

As Somali authorities prepare for parliamentary and presidential elections in October, the militant group has warned of more attacks in the capital.