10 killed in Mogadishu beach restaurant attack claimed by Al-Shabaab militants

Around 10 people have been killed after al-Shabaab militants detonated a car bomb on a seaside restaurant in Somalia's capital Mogadishu, on Thursday (25 August) evening, police said. Among the dead are six civilians, two security force members and two attackers.

Police officer, Major Ahmed Ibrahim told Reuters: "A car bomb exploded at Banadir beach restaurant at Lido beach and there is exchange of gunfire. We have no other details so far."

"We attacked the Banadir beach restaurant and now our fighters are fighting inside it," al-Shabaab's military spokesperson Abdiasis Abu Musab told Reuters.

A well-known Somali singer, Khadar Keeyow, who was near the scene said, "I heard a large explosion, I went outside, and I saw the dead bodies of three people; two were women." The police said they had taken one militant into custody.

The Banadir restaurant on Lido beach is near the compound of the new Turkish embassy in Mogadishu.

The extremist group linked to al-Qaeda has carried out a wave of attacks in Somalia to overthrow the Western-backed government. In January, the militants carried out an attack on another restaurant on Lido beach that killed 17 people.

More than 20 were killed in an attack on Sunday, 21 August, when suicide bombers detonated two car bombs at a local government building in Somalia's Puntland area, which is semi-autonomous.

In 2011, Al-Shabaab was pushed out of Mogadishu by the African Union peace keeping mission Amisom but they remain a danger to the security of Somalia, mounting frequent attacks to overthrow the government.

In a separate incident in southern Somalia, at least three people were injured in Baardheere town when a roadside bomb, believed to be planted by al-Shabaab, went off in the Cedo region, on Thursday.