MOGADISHU (Reuters) -At least eight people were killed and 28 others injured in an explosion on popular beach in the Somali capital Mogadishu late on Friday evening, an ambulance service said, an attack blamed by Somali state media on the militant Islamist group al Shabab.
Dr Abdikadir Abdirahmman, director of Aamin ambulance, gave the casualty numbers, adding that the toll could rise.
State news agency SONNA said that in addition five attackers from al Shabaab had been killed by security forces while a sixth had blown himself up during the assault.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility by the al Qaeda-linked al Shabaab, which has claimed similar attacks in the past.
The explosion occurred while residents were swimming on Lido beach, former Prime Minister Hassan Ali Khaire said on his X account.
“The fact that the terrorist attack coincides with this night when the beach is the most congested shows the hostility of the terrorists to the Somali people,” he said.
Videos posted on X showed bodies lying on the beach in the dark, and people running to safety.
Al Shabab controlled a vast area of Somalia before being pushed back in government counteroffensives since 2022. However, the militants remain capable of launching significant attacks on government, commercial, and military targets.
(Reporting by George Obulutsa and Abdi SheikhWriting by Elias BiryabaremaEditing by Sandra Maler and Frances Kerry)
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