Al-Qaeda-linked al Shabaab group claimed responsibility for the bombing.
Mogadishu,
Five people were killed and eight injured Tuesday in a suicide bomb attack in Somalia’s capital Mogadishu, police say.
The target was a cafeteria is situated near General Kahiye Police Academy where police officers and other individuals often meet for tea and refreshments, Somali Police Force spokesman Sadik Adan Ali said.
“Six people in total died, including the bomber,” Mr Ali said, adding that the injured were taken to medical facilities in the city. The officer, however, did not specify whether they were police or civilian casualties.
A survivor told the media that all he remembers is a bang. “I was having tea when a blast occurred. Up to now I cannot hear well,” the survivor said.
Al-Qaeda-linked al-Shabaab group claimed responsibility for the bombing that occurred just past midday.
Through websites sympathetic to the group, al-Shabaab said it had killed many high-ranking police officers.
Al-Shabaab fervently fights Somalia’s armed forces and peacekeepers operating under the auspices of the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) in a bid to defeat the internationally recognised federal government of Somalia.
Although Somalia’s National Army and Amisom have liberated most urban areas from al-Shabaab, its militants still control large swathes of rural territories in the southern and central regions of Somalia.