A suicide bombing attack by the Al-Shabaab extremist group on a crowded tea shop in Somalia’s capital Mogadishu killed 10 people and wounded dozens, the government said Saturday.
Somali National Army (SNA) said its forces killed 15 al-Shabab militants in a fierce fighting early Sunday in the central part of the country.
“The SNA forces killed 15 al-Shabab fighters and injured others and recovered 10 guns in fighting between Guriel and Dhusamareb towns in Galgaduud region of central Somalia this morning,” SNA spokesman told SNA Radio.
"The horrific and callous attack by al-Shabab terrorists shows they are targeting innocent people which makes it our duty to co-operate together to fight terrorism," Prime Minister Mohamed Roble said in a statement.
“Once again Al Shabaab has proven that their violence has no bounds and will kill indiscriminately,” Somalia’s Ministry of Information, Culture, and Tourism said in a statement on Saturday.
Al Shabab, the ministry added, strives “to cause pain, destruction, and chaos. These ideals have no place in a free Somalia.”
The extremist Al-Shabaab group claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement saying, “15 elements from the governmental intelligence, police, and militia were killed and 22 others were wounded.”
Sources told AFP that the attack took place just a few hundred meters from the headquarters of the Somali Intelligence Agency.
“The cafe was crowded when the blast occurred,” said a witness.
Al-Shabaab, which is fighting to overthrow the Somali government, regularly attacks government and civilian targets in Mogadishu.
The group controlled the capital until 2011 when it was pushed out by African Union troops, but still holds territory in the countryside.
