MOGADISHU: A car bomb and suspected suicide bomber struck a popular restaurant in the Somali capital on Saturday, killing at least 15 people, Ahmed Nur, a senior police officer at the scene, told Reuters.
The blast underscored the ongoing security threats in Mogadishu; despite the withdrawal by Islamist militant group al Shabaab from the city in 2011 under military pressure. It was not immediately clear who carried out the attack on the Village Restaurant, owned by well-known Somali businessman Ahmed Jama, who returned to his home country from London to set up business against the advice of friends. In September last year two suicide bombers hit the same restaurant, killing at least 15 people.
Mohamed Yusuf, spokesman for the Mogadishu authorities, said that after the car bomb went off, a suicide bomber immediately blew himself up in the restaurant.
“First a car bomb exploded at the entrance of the restaurant, and when people converged inside a suicide bomber blew up himself,” he said. (AP)