7 killed in Mogadishu beach restaurant attack

Seven persons were killed in an attack by Shabaab jihadists on a beachfront restaurant in the Somali capital Mogadishu, a spokesman for the city authorities said on Friday.

“Nine persons, including two Shabaab gunmen, were killed in the attack yesterday,” said Mogadishu city spokesman Abdifatah Halane.

Al-Qaeda-linked Shabaab jihadists attacked the Banadir Beach Restaurant close to the city’s Lido Beach, setting off a car bomb before exchanging fire with security forces.

The restaurant is popular with youngsters and government officials. Around 20 people managed to escape from the restaurant during the gunfight. Officials said the attackers were killed by the morning.

All “attackers have been gunned down and the restaurant is now under the full command of the Somali government soldiers”, regional police commander Colonel Abshir Bishaar told the Somali National News Agency.

“The terrorist attack killed nine persons, five of them were civilians, two security forces and the other two were the militants who carried out the attack,” Bishaar said, adding that two other civilians were injured.

It is the second time this year that the group has attacked the Lido beach area and its eateries, including upmarket establishments popular with business people and diaspora Somalis who have returned home to the city.