Monday, October 13, 2014
MOGADISHU, (Xinhua) -- The death toll from a car bomb attack in a popular cafe in Somali capital Mogadishu Sunday evening has climbed to 20, local officials said Monday.
Ahmed Nor, Mogadishu's Hawlwadaag district commissioner, said six more bodies were recovered from the scene of the carbomb. He told reporters that with the recovery of bodies, death toll from the explosion reaches 20.
Ten people were instantly killed when the blast happened, while four more people later died at hospitals.
The cafe, Oroma Cafe, is along the main Maka Al Mukarrama Street that leads from the airport to the State House in Mogadishu, and was packed when the explosion happened.
State radio, Radio Mogadishu, on Sunday blamed the blast on the radical Islamist group of Al-Shabaab.
No group has so far claimed responsibility for the attack, but Al-Shabaab has previously launched and took responsibility for similar attacks.
The attack comes as Somali government forces backed by African Union peacekeeping forces continue a major offensive against Al- Qeada linked militants, and have reclaimed key towns and villages from fighters of the radical group including the main port town of Barawe, south of Mogadishu.