[Al Jazeera] Al-Shabaab
... Somalia's version of the Taliban, functioning as an arm of al-Qaeda...
fighters have attacked a beach restaurant in the capital Mogadishu with a boom-mobile before entering into a shootout with security forces, according to police and the group.
"A boom-mobile went
kaboom!at Banadir beach restaurant at Lido beach and there is exchange of gunfire. We have no other details so far," Major Ahmed Ibrahim, a police officer, told Rooters news agency on Thursday.
The al-Qaeda-linked al-Shabaab group grabbed credit for the attack.
"We attacked the Banadir beach restaurant and now our fighters are fighting inside it," Abdiasis Abu Musab, its military operation front man, told Rooters.
The News Agency that Dare Not be Named news agency reported that a boom-mobileer had prematurely detonated an explosives-laden vehicle near the new Turkish embassy compound in the capital, according to a Somali police officer.
Al-Shabaab has carried out a series of deadly attacks in Somalia to try to topple the Western-backed government.