MOGADISHU (Reuters) – At least 20 people were killed and 30 injured by a suicide car bomb just outside a restaurant near the port in Somalia’s capital, Mogadishu, late Friday, an emergency services official said.
The explosion sent plumes of smoke into the air and set off gunfire, witnesses and state media reported.
“So far we have transported 20 dead and 30 wounded from the blast scene,” said Dr. Abdulkadir Aden, founder of AAMIN Ambulance Services at Reuters.
The explosion occurred at the Luul Yemeni restaurant near the harbor, witnesses said.
A fast-moving car exploded at the Luul Yemeni restaurant. I went to the restaurant but ran back when the explosion shook and covered the area with smoke, ”resident Ahmed Abdullahi, who lives near the site, told Reuters.
Somali state-controlled Radio Mogadishu reported that property had also been destroyed and that police cordoned off the area.
Nobody claimed responsibility for the explosion.
The Islamist group al Shabaab regularly carries out such bombings in Somalia and elsewhere as part of its campaign to overthrow the central government of the African country’s Horn and establish its own rule based on its strict interpretation of Islamic Sharia- legislation.
Reporting by Abdi Sheikh; written by Elias Biryabarema; edited by Grant McCool