At least 15 people died on Saturday in a suicide attack in a restaurant in the central Somali town of Beledweyne claimed by the Shabab, a local police chief said.
“The death toll we have so far is 15 and the injured are more than that number,” Isaq Ali Abdi, police chief of the Hiraan region, told AFP. Witnesses said earlier they had counted 12 bodies after the blast. “It was horrible, I counted 12 people killed — among them soldiers — and many others were injured,” Mohamed Islow Ali, a witness, told AFP by telephone.
“There were a lot of people in the restaurant when the bomber blew himself up, many people have died including civilians,” said Hussein Ali, another witness. “The attack was carried out by one of the mujahedeen. Thanks to Allah, he has killed many of the enemy including Ethiopian soldiers and Djiboutians,” Sheikh Mohamed, a Shabab commander in the nearby town of Bulaburde, told AFP.
The attack targeted a restaurant said to be popular with the military. Ethiopian soldiers, as well as Djiboutians from an African Union force and Somali soldiers are all stationed in Beledweyne. Men from all three forces had gathered there to drink tea when the attacker struck, local people said. “Some people were killed while drinking tea and others as they were walking past. It was an incident that terrorised the town’s inhabitants,” said Ahmed Mohamud, another resident.
Somalia’s President and Prime Minister both condemned the attack.