A suicide car bomber and gunmen on Thursday attacked a beachside restaurant in the capital of Somalia, a country that’s no stranger to such bloody attacks.
Gunfire was also heard at a nearby hotel, according to Col. Abdulkadir Ahmed, a senior police officer.
Ahmed said that a car rammed the gate of the Beach View restaurant and banquet hall overlooking Mogadishu’s Lido Beach. Militants then entered the building.
It was not immediately clear how many people were killed and injured in the attack.
Nor was it known for certain who is responsible.
In the past, such attacks have been linked to Al-Shabaab, an al Qaeda-linked militant organization based in the East African nation. The group’s aim is to turn Somalia into a fundamentalist Islamic state, according to the Council on Foreign Relations, but it has seemingly gone beyond that goal — and beyond Somalia — with a host of horrific attacks, like last year’s massacre at Kenya’s Garissa University College and a 2013 siege of Nairobi’s upscale Westgate Mall.
Last week, Al-Shabaab militants staged a deadly attack on an African Union base in southwestern Somalia.
And last fall, the Islamist militant group claimed responsibility for blasts and gunfire at Mogadishu’s popular Sahafi Hotel. At least 15 people were killed in that attack, medical and police officials said.
“This attack further demonstrates the vile nature of Al Shabaab, whose sole purpose is to spread terror and destabilize Somalia,” the African Union mission tweeted. “Our resolve can only be rejuvenated, to fight on until Somalia is freed of all elements of terror.”