At least nine dead in bomb attack on cafe in Mogadishu during European Championship final

Several people were killed late Sunday, July 14, in a powerful car bomb explosion at a cafe in Somalia’s capital Mogadishu, which was packed with football fans watching the Euro 2024 final. “The explosion killed nine civilians and injured 20 others,” said Mohamed Yusuf, a national security official, raising the official death toll of five that authorities had given late Sunday.

“There were a lot of people in the restaurant, most of them young people watching the football match… but thank God most of them were able to get out safely after climbing up the rear boundary wall using ladders and jumping over it,” he said.

Images posted online showed a huge fireball and plumes of smoke rising into the night sky as the explosion rocked the popular restaurant in the city centre on Sunday.

No group claimed responsibility for the attack, but Somalia’s state-run news agency said on Sunday that the attack was carried out by al-Qaeda-linked jihadists from al-Shabaab. Al-Shabaab has waged a bloody insurgency against Somalia’s fragile federal government for more than 17 years and has carried out numerous bombings in Mogadishu and other parts of the country.

An AFP journalist said firefighters, police and ambulances rushed to the site of the explosion, which is near the presidential palace and was busy at the time of the bombing.

‘Total war

There has been a relative lull in attacks in recent months as the government continues its offensive against Islamist militants. But on Saturday, five inmates suspected of being al-Shabaab fighters were killed in a shootout with guards during an attempted escape from Mogadishu’s main prison. Prison officials said three guards were also killed and 18 others wounded after the inmates managed to get hold of weapons.

Somalia’s President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud has announced an “all-out” war against the jihadists. Government troops have joined forces with local clan militias in a military offensive supported by an African Union force and US air strikes. But the offensive has suffered setbacks. Earlier this year, Al-Shabaab claimed to have taken over several areas in central Somalia.

Although Al-Shabaab was driven out of Mogadishu by AU troops in 2011, the group still has a strong presence in rural Somalia.

Last month, Somalia called on the African Union to slow down the planned troop withdrawal from the crisis-ridden country. UN resolutions called for the troop strength of the AU peacekeeping force ATMIS to be reduced to zero by December 31 and for security to be handed over to the Somali army and police.

In the third and penultimate phase, 4,000 of the 13,500 ATMIS soldiers were to withdraw by the end of June. But Somalia’s government said it only wanted to withdraw 2,000 soldiers in June and the remaining 2,000 in September.