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Somali soldiers are seen in Mogadishu, Somalia, on Oct. 15, 2011. A suicide bomb carried out by al-Shabab killed 15 people in the capital on Feb. 9. (Abdurashid Abikar/AFP/Getty Images)
Around 15 people were killed in a suicide bomb attack carried out by al-Shabab, a militant group with ties to al-Qaeda, in Somalia’s capital, Mogadishu, according to several reports.
The “horrible suicide blast” that was “carried out by desperate and violent criminals” injured another 20 people, Mogadishu mayor Mohamed Ahmed Nur told AFP on Thursday.
“They are cowards, attacking soft targets — innocent people drinking tea,” Nur added.
The attackers on Wednesday afternoon parked a car laden with explosives near the Hotel Muna, which is a place often used by politicians in Somalia, then they set it off, reported the BBC. Al-Shabab denied that it was a suicide attack, which was initially reported by police.
“The mujahedeen fighters carried out a bomb attack against the Muna hotel, where the apostate lawmakers and security officials stay,” al-Shabab spokesperson Sheikh Abdulaziz Abu Musab told AFP. “We will continue targeting them everywhere.”
Al-Shabab, which controls much of southern Somalia, was pushed out of Mogadishu last year by the African Union and forces loyal to the Somali transitional government. In late 2011, Kenya’s government sent its own troops to try and ferret out al-Shabab militants in the south.
The group attacked the same hotel nearly two years ago, storming the building and killing more than 30 people.
Somalia has been without a central government since 1991, after the quasi-communist regime of military strongman Mohamed Siad Barre was overthrown after holding power for 22 years, with portions of the country divided up between various tribes and other groups.
