Militants from Al-Shabaab, an Al-Qaeda affiliate, have attacked a restaurant in the Somali capital, Mogadishu.
Advertisement
Sporadic shooting could be heard as night fell, Reuters witnesses said.
Both are being attributed to the al-Shabaab militant group, although the group so far has only claimed the Mogadishu attack.
The suicide vehicle bomb exploded at the Banadir Beach Club and Restaurant on the Lido beach, Xinhua quoted witnesses as saying.
It was not clear how many casualties there might be.
From their position inside the restaurant, the attackers also lobbed several grenades at the security services who cordoned off the area, the correspondent said.
In late January, Shabaab gunmen detonated a bomb before bursting into the Lido Sea Food Restaurant and spraying gunfire at terrified customers, killing some 20 people.
Internal Security Minister Abdirizak Omar Mohamed said on his Twitter account: “Warning: People near the blast scene should stay in the hotels and in their houses in which they are inside”.
It was the second time the Islamists had attacked the Lido beach this year.
Advertisement
Al-Shabab’s military operation spokesman Abdiasis Abu Musab confirmed his group was responsible, telling Reuters the militants “attacked the Banadir beach restaurant and now our fighters are fighting inside it”. Police Capt. Mohamed Hussein told AP the bomber detonated the auto in the middle of the road.
