MOGADISHU, Somalia – A suicide bomber blew himself up at a busy restaurant near the office of Mogadishu mayor in the capital on Tuesday morning, witnesses and police said.
A witness told Radio Shabelle that a man wearing a suicide vest entered the restaurant, sat down among many people eating their breakfast, and then detonated himself immediately.
Gunfire was still ongoing in the area and it was difficult for ambulances to access the area, said the witness, adding that police sealed off the blast site and the situation was tense.
“We were in the mayor’s office and we were deafened by a blast, we ran out, gunfire followed,” an employee, who works in the mayor’s office, told Radio Shabelle by phone.
The details of the casualties remain unclear so far.
The mayor’s office is located in the local government headquarters building in a well-guarded area of Mogadishu.
Roads in the area have concrete barriers and multiple roadblocks. The building is about one and a half kilometers away from Villa Somalia, the president’s office.
Al Shabaab frequently carries out bombings and gun assaults on targets in Mogadishu and across the country.
The group has been attacking Somalia’s government since 2006 as it seeks to topple it.
