32 killed, 63 hurt in Somali beach attack

Mogadishu: At least 32 people were killed and several others injured after a suicide bomber and gunmen targeted a popular beachfront location in the Somali capital on Saturday, a police spokesman has said.

Abdifatah Adan Hassan said around 63 people are wounded, some of them critically.

Video footage showed several bodies and injured people in Mogadishu's Abdiaziz district.

Local media say the attack was carried out by al-Shabab militants who control large parts of southern and central Somalia.

The group is affiliated with al-Qaeda and has waged a brutal insurgency for nearly 20 years against the UN-backed government in Somalia.

One eyewitness told AFP news agency that people were in a state of panic, as “it was hard to know what was happening because the shooting started soon after the blast”.

Abdilatif Ali said some people attempted to take cover on the ground, while others tried to flee the location.

“I saw wounded people at the beachside. People were screaming in panic and it was hard to notice who was dead and who was still alive,” he added.

At least five people were responsible for the attack, as Mr Hasan said one attacker blew himself up while three others were killed.

One attacker was captured alive, the police spokesman told reporters in Mogadishu.

SOURCE: BBC