At least 32 people were killed and dozens injured in a suicide attack at a beach restaurant in Mogadishu, Somalia, on Friday, as reported by state media SONNA on Saturday.
Six members of the Somali militant group al-Shabaab targeted the Beach View Hotel with a suicide bomb. Five attackers were killed, but the fate of the sixth remains unclear.
The morning after the blast, video footage showed civilians gathered around an ambulance at the attack site. People were seen sitting on the sand, with a section of the ground appearing blackened.
Hassan Farah, a survivor of the attack, told Reuters he was sitting in the restaurant with friends when the explosion occurred.
“In an instant, there was something like lightning and a huge blast,” he said. “We were covered with smoke. Inside and outside the restaurant, many people were lying on the floor, bleeding and crying.”
Injured victims were taken to hospitals across the city, SONNA reported. Many members of the public responded to an urgent call for blood donations.
Al-Shabaab claimed responsibility for the attack, stating they were targeting Somali officials and officers, according to the SITE Intelligence Group.
Al-Shabaab aims to overthrow the Somali government and establish rule based on its strict interpretation of Sharia law. The group is the “largest and most kinetically active al-Qaeda network in the world,” according to the US Africa Command, and was designated as a terrorist organization by the US in 2008 and by a UN Security Council committee in 2010.
After Friday’s attack, Mogadishu Mayor Yusuf Hussein Jimale offered “prayers for a speedy recovery for the injured and wished paradise for those who lost their lives,” SONNA said.
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