Suicide Bombing in Somalia Kills 37 at Popular Beach Hotel

(Bloomberg) -- At least 37 people were killed and scores injured when a suicide bomb detonated at a popular beach hotel in Somalia’s capital of Mogadishu on Friday night. 

The attack was claimed by the Islamic militant group al-Shabaab, an affiliate of al-Qaeda that operates in East Africa and has waged an insurgency against Somalia’s government for some 17 years. It was quickly condemned by the US and the European Union, among others. 

Somali Prime Minister Hamza Abdi Barre and President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud met Saturday with security agencies, according to local media. Such attacks are “a direct threat to the very fabric of our nation,” the premier said in a statement. 

The Associated Press reported that an attacker was seen wearing an explosives-laden vest moments before the man blew himself up next to the hotel. 

Police said there were six attackers in all, including the bomber and gunmen, who were successfully “neutralized” after engaging in skirmishes. 

Ahmed Hashi, a police officer at the scene at Lido Beach, told Bloomberg News on Saturday that a car on site “contains one of the most powerful explosives ever.” The area remains cordoned off. 

Late Saturday, Somalia’s health minister said 11 of those injured remain in intensive care and another 64 are receiving treatment, while 137 have been discharged for hospital. 

“This brutal attack at Lido Beach against civilians underlines yet again al-Shabab’s barbarity towards their own compatriots,” the EU’s diplomatic service said in a statement. The US embassy in Mogadishu said its commitment to supporting efforts to defeat the terror group was “unwavering.” 

Hassan, Somalia’s president, vowed to escalate the fight against al-Shabaab when he took office in 2022, as the militant group threatened to broaden attacks into Ethiopia and carry out more in Kenya. 

Somalia has been battling the insurgency since 2006 and suffers regular blasts in the capital and elsewhere. In July, a car bombing killed five people who had gathered in Mogadishu to watch the finals of the European soccer championship. 

The Lido Beach area has been targeted by al-Shabaab-linked militants in the past, including in 2023, when several people were killed after an hours-long siege.   

Separately, at least seven people were killed when a minibus was hit by a roadside bomb in the Middle Shabelle region, northeast of Mogadishu, on Saturday.

(Updates with latest death and injury toll in first and seventh paragraphs.)

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