An al-Shabaab suicide bomber and gunmen attacked a busy beach in the Somalian capital, Mogadishu, killing at least 32 people and wounding scores more, police said yesterday, in one of the deadliest strikes in the east African country in months.
The militants have been waging an insurgency against the internationally backed federal government for more than 17 years and have previously targeted the Lido beach area, popular with businesspeople and officials.
Unverified video footage shared online in the immediate aftermath of the attack late on Friday showed people scattering along a street, with a number of clips apparently showing bloodied bodies lying on the beachfront.
Photo: Reuters
“More than 32 civilians died in this attack and about 63 others were wounded, some of them critically,” police spokesman Abdifatah Adan Hassan told a news conference.
“Targeting and blasting to kill 32 members from the civilian population means these Kharijites are not going to target only government centers, soldiers and officials,” he said, using a term Somalian officials use to describe al-Shabaab.
The assault, for which al-Shabaab claimed responsibility in a post on a pro-al-Shabaab Web site, began when a suicide bomber detonated a device and gunmen stormed the area.
Officer Mohamed Omar said that members of the group had “shot civilians randomly.”
Security forces had ended the attack and killed five gunmen, while a sixth member of the group “blew himself [up] at the beach,” he said.
Witnesses said there were many people at the popular location when the explosion occurred, describing how gunmen then stormed the area.
Hawo Mohamed, who lives near the scene, said at least seven people he knew had died in the attack.
“The devastation is immense and there is blood, and severed pieces of human flesh strewn in the scene,” he said.
Witness Abdilatif Ali was at the beach when the attackers struck and described the chaos and fear that unfolded late at night.
“Everybody was panicked and it was hard to know what was happening because shooting started soon after the blast,” he said. “I saw many people strewn [on the ground] and some of them were dead and others wounded.”
Ahmed Yare witnessed the attack unfold from a nearby hotel.
“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 said.
Hospitals appealed for blood donations following the influx of wounded, local media reported.
Abdulkhaliq Osman, head of the health section at Kalkaal Hospital, told reporters that they had received scores of injured people.
“Eleven of them were transferred to the operations unit for critical injuries, and those with light injuries were sent home after receiving the necessary medical assistance,” he said.
Tropical Storm Usagi strengthened to a typhoon yesterday morning and remains on track to brush past southeastern Taiwan from tomorrow to Sunday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 2pm yesterday, the storm was approximately 950km east-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan proper’s southernmost point, the CWA said. It is expected to enter the Bashi Channel and then turn north, moving into waters southeast of Taiwan, it said. The agency said it could issue a sea warning in the early hours of today and a land warning in the afternoon. As of 2pm yesterday, the storm was moving at
DISCONTENT: The CCP finds positive content about the lives of the Chinese living in Taiwan threatening, as such video could upset people in China, an expert said Chinese spouses of Taiwanese who make videos about their lives in Taiwan have been facing online threats from people in China, a source said yesterday. Some young Chinese spouses of Taiwanese make videos about their lives in Taiwan, often speaking favorably about their living conditions in the nation compared with those in China, the source said. However, the videos have caught the attention of Chinese officials, causing the spouses to come under attack by Beijing’s cyberarmy, they said. “People have been messing with the YouTube channels of these Chinese spouses and have been harassing their family members back in China,”
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday said there are four weather systems in the western Pacific, with one likely to strengthen into a tropical storm and pose a threat to Taiwan. The nascent tropical storm would be named Usagi and would be the fourth storm in the western Pacific at the moment, along with Typhoon Yinxing and tropical storms Toraji and Manyi, the CWA said. It would be the first time that four tropical cyclones exist simultaneously in November, it added. Records from the meteorology agency showed that three tropical cyclones existed concurrently in January in 1968, 1991 and 1992.
UPDATED FORECAST: The warning covered areas of Pingtung County and Hengchun Peninsula, while a sea warning covering the southern Taiwan Strait was amended The Central Weather Administration (CWA) at 5:30pm yesterday issued a land warning for Typhoon Usagi as the storm approached Taiwan from the south after passing over the Philippines. As of 5pm, Usagi was 420km south-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan proper’s southernmost tip, with an average radius of 150km, the CWA said. The land warning covered areas of Pingtung County and the Hengchun Peninsula (恆春), and came with an amended sea warning, updating a warning issued yesterday morning to cover the southern part of the Taiwan Strait. No local governments had announced any class or office closures as of press time last night. The typhoon
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