27, including children killed, 35 injured in Al-Shabaab terror attack on two restaurants in Mogadishu [images]

At least 27 people have been confirmed dead and 35 wounded when fighters of Al-Shabaab Islamist terrorist group attacked two popular restaurants in the Somali capital, Mogadishu, on Wednesday night. 

The siege which began Wednesday evening with a car bombing at the gates of the popular Posh Hotel in downtown Mogadishu frequented by foreigners.

After a car bomb exploded at the hotel’s gates, gunmen fanned out to the Pizza House restaurant.

Six children were among those killed inside Pizza House. Dozens of others were taken hostage, according to local officials and the emergency services. Special forces rescued more than 50 hostages, according to the state news media.

"I saw with my own eyes bodies of five girls on the ground. Posh Treats restaurant was also destroyed by the blast. I ran away from their" an eyewitness said.
“I saw several people lying on the ground,” said Yusuf Warsame, a freelance photojournalist who went to the scene. “I personally counted the dead bodies of six people, including a young woman."

"Blood splattered across my clothes, and I had a piece of flesh on me, a people sitting around me were either dead or wounded," said Yare, a customer of Pizza House.

"There was blood everywhere, bodies everywhere in and outside of the restaurant," Yare added.

A guest at Posh Treats, Olad Ahmed, said:

 " i heard a large explosion and found myself under a table... a girl next to me was dead,"

Somali Prime Minister Hassan Ali Khaire called the attack a "barbarous act of terrorism" on public radio.

Another senior member of the Somali security forces, Mohamed Hassan, said several people were rescued safe and sound by security forces.
Among them are foreigners from Kenya and Ethiopia who were employees at Posh Treats, according to Hassan.

Several guests, including Kenyan and Ethiopian nationals, were also rescued. A Syrain national was among those killed in the attack, police officer Hassan Nour said

Al-Shabaab claimed responsibility for the attack on pro-insurgent radio station Andalus shortly after the attack.

“A mujahid (fighter) with his suicide car bomb martyred himself after he rammed into Posh Hotel, which is a nightclub. The operation goes on,” said Abdiasis Abu Musab, the group’s military spokesman.

The group, which is seeking to establish an Islamist state in Somalia, is affiliated with the international al-Qaeda terrorist network.

Al-Shabaab regularly launches attacks on government buildings, hotels and restaurants in Somalia.

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