News / Somalia

Blast hits restaurant in Somali capital

Thursday, 21 January 2016 5:36 PM [ Last Update: Thursday, 21 January 2016 5:36 PM ]

People gather at the site of an explosion at the Weheliye Hotel in the Somali capital, Mogadishu, July 10, 2015. (© AFP)

Casualties are feared after a car bomb exploded at a popular seaside in the Somali capital Mogadishu, security sources say.

"There was a car bomb explosion at a restaurant at the Lido beach, there is shooting and gunfire," police officer Ahmed Bidan said.

Witnesses and residents said the blasts were followed by intense gunfire.

The Lido beach area in Mogadishu is popular with businesspeople and diaspora Somalis who have returned home to the city.

No individual or group has claimed responsibility for the attack, but the Somali government blames such incidents on the al-Shabab Takfiri terrorist group.

Somalia has been the scene of deadly clashes between government forces and al-Shabab militants since 2006.

The Takfiri terrorists have been pushed out of Mogadishu and other major cities by government forces and the African Union Mission to Somalia (AMISOM), which is largely made up of troops from Ethiopia, Uganda, Burundi, Djibouti, Sierra Leone and Kenya.

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