Shabaab, al Qaeda’s affiliate in East Africa, executed a double suicide attack in a secured area in the Somali capital of Mogadishu today. According to Al Jazeera, at least 15 people have been killed and the death toll may rise. From Shabelle:
Witnesses said two suicide bomb attacks at a restaurant killed on Thursday afternoon at least 10 people, among 3 Somali journalists and wounded twenty people.
Shabelle Media journalist Ahmed Abdi Hassan at the scene says two suicide bombers blew themselves up at Village restaurant opposite to the Somalia’s national theatre.
The attacks also killed Liiban Ali Nur, Abdisatar Dahir, working with state-run Radio Mogadishu and TV and Abdirahman Yasin, director of voice of democracy (VOD), a local independent FM station.
Witnesses said the bombers detonated at the popular Village café, where journalists and some government officials had gathered to drink tea, a spot also close to the state house located in the heart of Mogadishu.
Despite last summer’s offensive that ended Shabaab’s overt control of the capital, Shabaab has continued to conduct suicide bombings, IED attacks, and assassinations in Mogadishu.
Shabaab carried out a suicide attack across the street from the Village restaurant, at the national theatre, on April 14. In that attack, a female suicide bomber targeted an event that was attended by senior Somali officials, including Prime Minister Abdiweli Mohamed Ali. More than 30 people were wounded, including four members of parliament and two Somali reporters.
One month earlier, on March 14, a Shabaab suicide bomber killed five people in a bombing inside the presidential palace compound in the Somali capital.
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