At least five dead and eight injured in suspected terrorist attack in Mogadishu, Somalia

September 15 (EUROPA PRESS) –

At least five people have died and eight more have been injured as a result of an alleged terrorist attack – the authorship of which has not been confirmed – which triggered a series of explosions in the Somali capital, Mogadishu, local authorities have reported on Saturday.

The explosions took place in the Kahda district, in a leisure location frequented by local youth, giving rise to a scene described as “chaotic” by district commissioner Abdullahi Sheikh Abdirahman.

“The first explosion caused a rush of people to help the wounded and that’s when the second explosion occurred, which caused most of the casualties,” Abdirahman said in statements reported by the Somali news portal Garowe Online.

While no group has yet officially claimed responsibility for the attack, some security analysts and local officials are pointing the finger at the terrorist group Al Shabaab, given its history of similar attacks on civilian gathering places.

Al-Shabaab, linked to al-Qaeda, controls much of southern and central Somalia and is responsible for the deadliest attacks in the country’s history. Authorities have recently stepped up their operations against the terrorist group with the support of local clans and militias since the arrival of President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud in May 2022.