- Police say one of the attackers detonated a bomb on the beach.
- The bombing becomes the deadliest attack in Somalia since 2022.
- An explosion breaks a quiet afternoon.
MOGADISHU: At least 32 civilians were killed and 63 wounded in an explosion on a popular beach in the Somali capital Mogadishu on Friday night, police said, an attack Somali state media blamed on the militant group Al Shabaab.
It was the deadliest attack in the Horn of Africa country since two car bombs detonated near a busy market intersection in October 2022, killing at least 100 people and injuring 300 others.
The al-Qaeda-linked group al-Shabaab did not immediately claim responsibility for the attacks, having claimed responsibility for similar attacks in the past, including a car bomb attack in 2022.
Police spokesman Abdifatah Aden gave the death toll from Friday night's blast at a beach restaurant.
In addition to the civilian deaths, Aden said one of the attackers had blown himself up and three others had been killed by security forces. One attacker was captured alive and a soldier was killed during the attack.
State news agency SONNA had earlier said five al-Shabaab attackers had been killed by security forces, while a sixth had blown himself up during the assault.
Hassan Farah, a survivor, described the shock he felt when the blast shattered a peaceful afternoon.
“I was in the restaurant drinking coffee and chatting with friends when I saw a big man running, in a second there was something like a lightning bolt and a big explosion,” he said. Reuters.
“We were covered in smoke. Inside and outside the restaurant there were many people lying on the ground, while others were bleeding and crying.”
Videos posted on X showed bodies lying on the beach in the dark and people running for safety.
Al Shabaab controlled a vast swathe of Somalia before being pushed back by government counter-offensives since 2022. However, the militants remain capable of launching major attacks against government, commercial and military targets.
“The fact that the terrorist attack coincided with this evening when the beach is most congested shows the hostility of the terrorists towards the Somali people,” former Prime Minister Hassan Ali Khaire said on his X account.
