According to witnesses and police, a suicide bomber detonated himself at a tea shop in Somalia’s capital, resulting in the deaths of at least seven individuals. The incident took place on Friday at a tea shop located in Bar Bulsho Mogadishu, near the central area where the presidential palace is situated, as stated by police spokesman Sadik Dudishe.
Dudishe confirmed that all the casualties were individuals who had gathered at the tea shop to spend time and enjoy tea. The café is commonly frequented by both members of the Somali security forces and civilians. The al-Shabab group, linked to Al Qaeda, claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement released on its Arabic media unit, Shahada News Agency, as reported by the SITE Intelligence Group. The group’s report indicated that the number of fatalities was 11, with 18 others wounded. It is worth noting that their casualty figures often differ from official government reports.
A local resident of the Bar Bulsho area, Adan Qorey, mentioned that the tea shop tends to be crowded in the afternoon and evening with customers who gather to drink tea and chew khat, a mildly narcotic native shrub also known as miraa.
Witnesses reported that the blast occurred on Friday afternoon at a checkpoint along a road leading to the parliament and the president’s office, with the tea shop being frequented by soldiers.
This attack follows closely after a car bombing near a market in central Somalia the previous day, which claimed the lives of five civilians and injured 13 others. Additionally, a truck bombing in the town of Beledweyne on Saturday resulted in the deaths of 21 individuals, causing significant destruction and numerous injuries.
It is notable that al-Shabab, with the aim of overthrowing the central government, executed an attack in June that led to the deaths of 54 Ugandan soldiers at their base southwest of Mogadishu. These recent attacks occur as Somalia’s government faces challenges in its fight against al-Shabab fighters, with President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, who took office in May the previous year, vowing to wage an all-out war against the extremist group.
In August of the same year, the government initiated a major offensive against al-Shabab, collaborating with local clan militias and receiving support from African Union troops and US airstrikes. While the group was ousted from the capital in 2011 by African Union forces, it still retains control over certain rural areas.
