MOGADISHU, Somalia – The police in Mogadishu confirmed at least five are dead and six sustained wounds, some in critical condition after a suicide bomb attack in the capital on Friday.
The attack which was carried out by a suspected Al-Shabaab bomber struck Bar-Bulsho teashop in Sayidka junction, a few meters away from the nation’s parliament compound.
Civilians are among the dead and injured, according to a police statement seen by Radio Shabelle. The attack comes hours after NISA said it arrested an Al-Shabaab arms smuggler.
Mogadishu has been relatively peaceful and stable since the election of Hassan Sheikh Mohamud as the 10th president in May 2022. The head of state is now on the frontlines.
Al-Shabaab was driven out of the seaside city in 2011, but it still manages to conduct deadly attacks and car bombings targeting key government buildings and military bases.
The Somali President, in power for five months, pledged “total war” against the militants after they attacked a popular hotel in Mogadishu in August 2022, killing at least 21 people.
Al-Qaeda-allied al-Shabab, which has been fighting in Somalia for more than a decade, is seeking to topple the Western-backed Somali central government based in Mogadishu.
