Six people have been killed in a blast at a beachside Mogadishu restaurant, which was hosting Somalia’s police chief and legislators when the explosion occurred.
Abdikadir Abdirahman, director of the Aamin Ambulance service, told reporters that six people died and seven others were wounded in the blast for which Al-shabab has claimed responsibility.
Government officials were reportedly unharmed in the blast, which sparked a fire inside the building, sending smoke into the sky as diners scrambled to safety.
The explosion came days after a mortar attack targeted Somalia’s parliament during a meeting by newly elected lawmakers.
No lawmakers were harmed in Monday’s assault, which was claimed by the Islamist militant group al-Shabab, which has been waging an insurgency against the central government for more than a decade.
The Horn of Africa nation has seen a spate of attacks in recent weeks as it hobbles through a long-delayed election process to pick a new president.
Some parliamentary seats remain unfilled but sufficient lawmakers have been sworn in to move the election process forward, with both houses due to choose a speaker next week.
Somalia has not held a one-person, one-vote election in 50 years.
Instead, polls follow a complex indirect model, whereby state legislatures and clan delegates pick lawmakers for the national parliament, who in turn choose the president.
The election delays have worried Somalia’s international backers, who have warned that the chaos distracts from the fight against al-Shabab.
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