At least 32 people were killed in a suicide attack carried out by al-Shabab militants at a popular beachfront location in the Somali capital, a police spokesman said on Saturday.<\/p>\n
Abdifatah Adan Hassan said around 63 people were also wounded, some of them critically.<\/p>\n
Video footage showed a number of bodies and injured people in Mogadishu’s Abdiaziz district.<\/p>\n
Al-Shabab controls large parts of southern and central Somalia. The group is affiliated to al-Qaeda and has waged a brutal insurgency for nearly 20 years against the UN-backed government in Somalia.<\/p>\n
In a statement claiming the attack, al-Shabab said “politicians, [security] forces and employees from various ministries and offices” were among those killed.<\/p>\n
The group says the death toll and injuries are much higher than figures released by the police.<\/p>\n
One eyewitness told AFP news agency people were in a state of panic, as “it was hard to know what was happening because shooting started soon after the blast”.<\/p>\n
Abdilatif Ali said some people attempted to take cover on Lido beach, while others tried to flee the location.<\/p>\n
“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 added.<\/p>\n