The Shebab, Islamist rebels affiliated with Al-Qaeda, have carried out numerous bombings and other attacks in Mogadishu in the past.
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Of the “Merciless terrorists killed civilians at random”a police officer in the capital told AFP on Saturday, August 3. The previous evening, a suicide bomber blew himself up on Lido Beach in Mogadishu, frequented by businessmen and civil servants. Attackers then opened fire on the beach, police and witnesses told the news agency.
The attackers were identified as “Kharijites”the term used by Somali authorities to refer to members of the group. Security forces announced that they had killed five attackers. This area of the capital has already been the target of attacks in the past. Attackers then opened fire on the beach, according to the same source. In mid-July, nine people were killed and 20 others injured in a car bomb explosion outside a crowded cafe during the broadcast of the Euro 2024 final.
The al-Qaeda-affiliated Al-Shabaab rebels have carried out numerous bombings and other attacks in the past, in several regions of Somalia. Although they were driven out of the capital by African Union forces in 2011, the rebels still have a strong presence in rural areas. President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud has promised a “total” war against the jihadists. But the army and clan militias have suffered setbacks, and the Al-Shabaab claimed in early 2024 to have taken many towns in the centre of the country.
