Blasts in Mogadishu kill at least 15
Security forces stand at the scene of two explosions in Mogadishu on September 7, 2013. At least 18 people were killed in the Somali capital Mogadishu on September 7 when two blasts ripped through a busy parking lot next to a restaurant, police said, in attacks quickly claimed by Shebab Islamists. The Al-Qaeda-linked Islamists claimed to have killed ‘key officials’, but witnesses said the casualties they had seen looked like ordinary civilians.
In an attack attributed to Al Shabaab insurgents, at least fifteen people have been killed in car bomb and suicide blasts at a popular restaurant in the Somalian capital of Mogadishu.
A car bomb first went off outside of the restaurant, located near the Somalian presidental palace, then a suicide bomber detonated immediately afterwards inside of the eatery.
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"We are behind today's blasts," said al Shabaab's spokesman for military operations, Sheikh Abdiasis Abu Musab, to Reuters. "Government officials, military forces, workers and their security always meet here. We had targeted it even before today and we shall continue targeting it."
Civilians appear to be among the dead, reports the New York Times, which added that soldiers immediately sealed the area after the attack, as the wounded were carried off the scene.
“We condemn this terrorist attack targeted at innocent Somali civilians meant to endanger the security gains,” Fowziya Yusuf Aden, the foreign minister, said in a statement on Saturday, according to the Times.
Sadly, the Village chain of restaurants has experienced violence once before, after suicide attacks on September 20th 2012 killed fourteen people.
Somali chef and businessman Ahmed Jana returned to his homeland from London in 2008, founding the Village chain — one of Mogadishu's sole gourmet ventures. Serving refined Somalian cuisine, the restaurant group has an active Facebook page here.
"I showed them I'm not going to give up. I showed them I'm still wanting to stay here," said Jana to NPR, after the September 20th attack in 2012.
"Alhamdulilaah….what ever happened, happened. We will cary on and hopefully with your support we will stay stronger and build our nation further," Jama wrote on his Facebook page in November 2012 after the attacks.
In this video, Jana explains his decision to return to Somalia at TedX Mogadishu.