Witnesses and officials said that at least 11 people were killed in a suicide bombing in the capital of Somalia on Tuesday.
Witnesses said that a suicide bomber walked into a tea shop made of corrugated tin and detonated an explosive vest.
The attack took place near a checkpoint of the Somali government security forces in the Wadajir district, which was adjacent to Mogadishu Airport and the headquarters of the African Union Force AMISOM.
A Somali government official who requested anonymity stated that soldiers and civilians were among the dead because he was not allowed to talk to the media.
The al-Shabaab militant group claimed responsibility for the attack.
Somali Prime Minister Mohamed Hussein Robl condemned the “barbaric practices” of Al-Shabaab.
“I condemn the bombing carried out by Al-Shabaab terrorists in a tea shop in the Wadajir district today, which caused the death and injury of innocent people,” he said on Twitter. “May God have mercy on the dead and heal the wounded.”
Rober said the attack showed that Al Shabaab “wants the Somali people to bleed indiscriminately.”
Since 2006, thousands of Somali civilians have been killed in Al-Shabaab fighting. The organization is working to overthrow the internationally supported Somali government.
Abdulkadir Mohamed Abdulle contributed to this report.
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