By Shafi’i Mohyaddin
Thursday, February 27, 2014
Mogadishu, Somalia (HOL) - Initial reports indicate that at least 12 people have been killed while nearly 15 others were wounded in a suicide attack in Somali capital Mogadishu on Thursday. The attack targeted a restaurant very close to the Bar FIAT where scores of people were drinking coffee on Thursday.
Some eye witnesses who were reached for comment by the media said they have counted the deaths of 12 people adding that nearly 15 others sustained different injuries.
According to the eye witnesses a car with explosives was used for the attack.
“I was drinking tea at the Bar when a man driving a car full of explosives hit the wall and then a very huge blast followed— most people at the Bar were either dead or wounded, it was really a very shocking experience” the eye witness told the media on condition of anonymity.
Civilians were reported to have taken the brunt of most casualties of Thursday’s suicide attack in Mogadishu which also killed members of Somali government’s intelligence Agency forces.
Somali government forces reached the scene and cordoned off the whole area where they are conducting search operations.
Abdul Aziz district commissioner Abdullahi Hasan Hussein who talked to the media on the scene of the attack said that there have been heavy casualties on both civilians and Somali government soldiers. He condemned the brutal attack.
No group has yet claimed for the responsibility of Thursday’s attack which comes less than a week after Al Shabab militants attacked Somali president’s Palace where they killed top government officials, before all the attackers were killed by AU and government soldiers.
Al Shabab’s spokesman said the Villa Somalia attack was meant to kill Somali president or capture him alive. It was the first time in history that Al Shabab managed to enter Villa Somalia and kill several high-ranking officials inside a mosque in the Palace.
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