MOGADISHU – Al Shabaab militants claimed accountability for an assault on an upmarket restaurant within the Somali capital of Mogadishu on Friday that left not less than seven individuals injured.
Somalia’s safety forces are conducting an operation to take management of the state of affairs, the state news company stated.
The assault on the favored Pearl Restaurant in a seashore resort occurred early on Friday night.
“Security forces are currently conducting an operation to neutralize al Shabaab militants who attacked civilians at a hotel on Lido beach in Mogadishu,” Somali National News Agency stated on Twitter.
“Many civilians have been rescued from the scene and the operation is ongoing.”
The news company later posted pictures displaying troopers within the restaurant responding. One stood subsequent to a glass door with a bullet gap in it, whereas sandals and a dustpan lay close to him.
Hussein Mohamed, a waiter at one other restaurant close by, instructed Reuters he heard a blast adopted by gunfire when the assault began.
“The whole area is cordoned off by security forces,” he stated.
Abdikadir Abdirahman, the director of Aamin Ambulance Services, stated they’d to date obtained seven individuals who had been wounded.
Al Qaeda-linked al Shabaab stated it was behind the assault.
“The Mujahideen managed to enter the Pearl beach and are still fully in control,” the group stated in a press release.
In November, the group, which controls swathes of the nation, attacked one other resort in Mogadishu, killing 9 individuals.
Al Shabaab as soon as managed an enormous space of Somalia earlier than being pushed again in authorities counteroffensives since final yr. However, the militants stay able to launching important assaults on authorities, industrial, and army targets.
In late May, its fighters attacked a base housing Ugandan peacekeepers 130 km (80 miles) southwest of Mogadishu, killing 54 troopers. —Reuters
Source: www.gmanetwork.com
