Blasts and bursts of gunfire could be heard as Somali special forces went from room to room, pursuing the al-Shabab gunmen.
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MILITANTS KILLED at least 19 people when five gunmen detonated a bomb before storming a popular seaside restaurant in the Somali capital Mogadishu, police said today (Jan 22).
“They wanted to kill more civilians – but the security forces rescued most of the people”.
The second explosion occurred at the entrance of the café, where intensive exchange of fire took place between attackers and café security, the same source added.
Somali police say the attack was carried out on Thursday by Islamist gunmen.
One woman beat her chest, whispering the name of her son who was killed in the attack.
Somali Prime Minister Omar Abdirashid Ali Sharmarke described the attack as “barbaric and brutal attack against innocent civilians”. When I was there about 30 minutes, and I was spending time with my friends including journalists, we saw bullets raining on us. An unknown number of people are still trapped inside the restaurant, he said.
‘There was a vehicle bomb explosion at a restaurant at the Lido beach, there is gunfire, ‘ police officer Ahmed Bidan said.
Mwathethe also refuted media reports that they had prior intelligence on the Al Shabaab attack at El Adde. The Kenyan government has given no death toll, but said there were some fatalities.
Somalia’s almost decade-long battle with al-Shabab has claimed thousands of lives.
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In his first official press briefing since the attack, Mwathethe said Al Shabaab may have received funding and logistical support from other worldwide terrorist organisations to carry out the Friday, January 15 attack saying the weapons used were sophisticated.
