Death toll in Somalia beach restaurant attack rises to 10

Islamic Extremism

Somalis gathered near the wreckage of car used during car bomb outside a beachfront restaurant following an overnight attack of the restaurant in Mogadishu, Somalia, Friday Aug. 26, 2016. (AP Photo/Farah Abdi Warsameh)

The death toll from an attack late on Thursday by Islamic militants on a seaside restaurant in the Somali capital Mogadishu has risen to 10, police said.

The attackers set off a car bomb at the Banadir restaurant at the city’s Lido beach before engaging security forces in a fight for several hours.

CCTV’s Abdulaziz Billow reports from the scene of the latest attack.
Follow Abdulaziz Billow Ali on Twitter @AbdulBillowAli

The casualties comprised six civilians, two members of the security forces and two of the attackers, Ali Abdullahi, a police officer, said on Friday.

al-Qaida-linked al Shabaab claimed the attack, which ended at around 3:00 a.m. local time, police said.

Two armed extremists attacked the restaurant Thursday night after a suicide car bomber, who was apparently heading for the establishment, detonated his explosives-laden vehicle when security forces opened fire on the car after the driver refused their orders to stop.

The group has carried out a series of deadly attacks in Somalia to try to topple the Western-backed government. The attack happened near the new Turkish embassy. Several beachside restaurants near the embassy have been attacked by al-Shabab.

In a separate incident in southern Somalia, a roadside bomb planted by al Shabaab militants injured 10 people, police said on Friday, raising the number of wounded from three initially.

One of those wounded in the explosion in Baardhere town in Gedo region was the local district commissioner, police said.

Story by Reuters and the Associated Press.