MOGADISHU (Reuters) – At least seven people died and six were wounded after a suicide bomber blew himself up in a restaurant in Somalia’s capital on Thursday, local police said in a statement.
It was not immediately clear who had carried out the attacks, although Islamist militant group al Shabaab frequently orchestrates bombings and gun attacks in Mogadishu and elsewhere in the fragile Horn of Africa nation.
The restaurant, which was located opposite a police training station, was frequented by officers, according to a security source.
“My cousin and four of his colleagues died in the blast. We are rushing to the scene to take his body,” Hassan Osman, a relative of one of the victims, told Reuters.
The al-Qaeda affiliate frequently attacks military outposts and state targets as part of a mission to overturn Somalia’s government and establish its own rule.
(Reporting by Abdi Sheikh; writing by Sonia Rao; Editing by Ammu Kannampilly, Alexandra Hudson)