Al-Shabaab kills eight in Somali beach attack

Somali security forces have ended a deadly overnight siege by extremist group al-Shabaab on a beachfront restaurant in the capital, Mogadishu, police officials said Friday morning. The attack, which began Thursday evening, killed at least eight people and two militants.

The attack began when the fighters set off a car bomb near Banadir restaurant on Lido beach. The subsequent shootout lasted for several hours after the explosion, with security forces retaking control at about 3 a.m. Officials said about 20 people escaped from the restaurant during the attack. The terrorists threw grenades at security officials and fired at them, witnesses said.

“Attackers have been gunned down and the restaurant is now under the full command of the Somali government soldiers,” said Col. Abshir Bashir, Mogadishu’s police chief.

Those killed included six civilians, two soldier, and two of the attackers, Bashir said. Turkey recently opened its largest embassy in the neighborhood. During the attack, Somalia’s internal security minister posted a warning on his Twitter account.

“People near the blast should stay in the hotels and in their houses,” the post said. “Cars should not enter Lido beach area.”

Al-Shabaab claimed responsibility for the attack before it was even over. In January, the group staged a similar attack on another restaurant on the beach, killing at least 17 people.

“We attacked the Banadir beach restaurant and now our fighters are fighting inside it,” Al-Shabaab’s military spokesman, Abdiasis Abu Musab, told Reuters yesterday.

The extremist group has increased sporadic attacks in the country in recent weeks. On Sunday, al-Shabaab killed at least 20 people in twin bomb attacks on a government building and a marketplace. In a separate incident yesterday, a roadside bomb likely planted by al-Shabaab wounded at least 12 people, including a local district commissioner, in Somalia’s southern Gedo region, Col. Hussein Nur told Reuters.

African Union peacekeeping forces pushed al-Shabaab out of Mogadishu earlier this year, but it has continued with frequent attacks. The attacks appear to be increasing as Somalia prepares for its upcoming elections, beginning next month.

“The upsurging violence seems to be not very coincidental,” said Ebrahim Deen, a researcher with the South Africa-based Afro Middle East Center. “The government is preparing for elections and these bombings could be al-Shabaab trying to weaken political forces.”