At Least 5 Killed, 20 Injured As Car Packed With Explosives Blows Up Outside Somalia Cafe

The cafe was packed with people watching the Euro Cup final between Spain and England when a car loaded with explosives blew up outside. 

Purported videos and images posted online of the incident showed a huge fireball.

Source : X/@FaytuksNetwork

At least five people were killed and around 20 others injured in a bombing outside a cafe in the Somali capital of Mogadishu on Sunday. 

According to the Associated Press, the cafe was packed with people watching the Euro Cup final between Spain and England when a car loaded with explosives blew up outside. 

Some people were injured while trying to jump the perimeter wall of the cafe while others sustained injuries as a stampede-like situation emerged, a witness, Ismail Adan, told AP. He added that most of the victims were in the street at the time of the explosion. 

Several purported videos and images of the incident posted online show a huge fireball and plumes of smoke billowing into the night sky over Mogadishu.

🇸🇴 - A powerful explosion has been reported near a cafe in Mogadishu, Somalia. According to initial reports, a car bomb detonated near the shop, where a crowd of people had gathered to watch the Euro 2024 final. @KaabTV reports at least 10 people killed. | @Florian99815909 pic.twitter.com/giLzgjCHYt

— Faytuks Network (@FaytuksNetwork) July 14, 2024

It was not immediately clear who was responsible for the attack.

The al-Qaeda-linked al-Shabaab jihadist group is frequently known to carry out attacks in Mogadishu and other places in Somalia. The group opposes the federal government, which depends on foreign troops to stay in power.

The capital city has been mostly peaceful for the past few months, but, last week, five inmates, said to be al-Shabaab fighters, were killed in a shootout with prison guards while attempting a jailbreak. In that attack, at least eight people were killed, AP reported. The dead included three guards, according to an AFP report. 

The Somali government is conducting a high-profile offensive against the jihadist group, categorised as a terrorist organisation by the United States.

Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud has declared “total war” against the extremists. The group controls large parts of central and southern Somalia, and has been a target of numerous US airstrikes in recent years.