Mogadishu, July 15 (EFE).- At least five people were killed and 20 injured in the Somali capital when suspected militants detonated a car bomb near a café on Sunday night where football fans had gathered to watch the Euro Cup final live on TV, police said.
In a statement published early Monday, police said a car laden with explosives went off in front of Top Coffee in the Bondhere district around 10.30 local time.
The statement said a group of young football fans were watching on a giant screen the Euro Cup final match between Spain and England in Berlin. Spain won the thriller 2-1.
“Five people have been confirmed dead and 20 injured,” the police said.
The statement said the explosion damaged vehicles parked nearby, most of which were “owned by young people spending the night” in the café.
Although no group has claimed responsibility for the attack, police blamed militants who “fight against development and peace in Somalia.”
The attack occurred after five fighters from the Islamist al-Shabab militant group and three guards were killed in a shootout during an attempted prison escape in Mogadishu on Saturday.
Four of the dead were on death row, while the fifth was serving a life sentence.
The al-Qaeda affiliate aims to expel all foreign forces from Somalia and establish a strict Islamic state. It frequently carries out attacks in Mogadishu and other parts of the country to overthrow the internationally-backed government and establish an ultra-conservative Islamic state.
The group controls rural areas in central and southern Somalia and also attacks neighboring countries like Kenya and Ethiopia.
The country in the Horn of Africa has seen an escalation in violence against the backdrop of President Mohamud declaring a “total war” against al-Shabab in August 2022.
Since then, the army, supported by the African Union Transition Mission in Somalia (ATMIS), has conducted numerous anti-militant offensives, sometimes with military collaboration from the United States and Turkey.
Somalia has been in a state of war since 1991 when the toppling of dictator Mohamed Siad Barre left the country without an effective government and vulnerable to Islamic militants, warlords, and criminal groups. EFE
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