Mogadishu restaurant attack kills at least 19
A SUICIDE car bombing and armed assault by six al-Shabaab militants on two neighbouring restaurants in Somalia’s capital Mogadishu ended yesterday morning with at least 19 dead, the government and police said.
“The operation is over now and the gunmen were killed by the security forces,” Somalian security ministry spokesman Mohamed Ahmed Arab said.
He said the six attackers – one suicide bomber and five gunmen – had attacked business places and killed innocent civilians – 18 civilians were killed, including a Syrian national [believed to have been a chef], and more than 10 others were wounded.
District police chief Abdi Bashir put the number of dead civilians at 19, while ambulance services said 27 were in hospital with various injuries.
The attack began at about 8pm on Wednesday with a suicide car bombing at the Posh Treats restaurant and club, after which gunmen stormed inside the nearby Pizza House.
Both venues were busy as customers broke the Ramadan fast.
The gunmen spent the night roaming the restaurant, killing those they found trapped, before they were eventually killed.
Bashir said Somali security forces had taken back control of the restaurant at midnight.
Survivors and witnesses described chaos after the blast.
“I was about to have dinner when the blast threw me to the ground,” Posh Treats customer Abdikarim Ahmed said.
“I rushed out. I could see the chaos caused by the blast and shrapnel everywhere.”
Abdukadir Mohamed, who was nearby, said: “I could see the huge fire, the dust, destruction, everything. Both Pizza House and Posh Treats were on fire.”
Al-Shabaab claimed responsibility.