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Five people in Somalia lost their lives when a bomb exploded at a café in Mogadishu as fans watched the Euro 2024 final between England and Spain.
A powerful car bomb exploded at the Top Coffee Restaurant in Mogadishu, killing five people and injuring around 20 others.
The cafe was crowded with football fans watching the Euro 2024 final between Spain and England when the blast occurred.
Images shared on social media showed a massive fireball and thick plumes of smoke rising into the night sky. The Somali National News Agency (SONNA) reported, "A car bomb detonated tonight outside Top Coffee Restaurant... placed by Kharijite terrorists," referring to the Al-Qaeda-linked Al-Shabaab jihadist group.
"Preliminary police reports confirm five fatalities and around 20 injuries," Major Abdifitah Aden Hassan, a police spokesperson, told state media.
An AFP journalist on the scene reported that firefighters, police, and ambulances quickly responded to the explosion. The area, close to the presidential palace compound known as Villa Somalia, was busy at the time of the bombing.
The bombing marks a deadly resurgence of violence by Al-Shabaab, which has been waging a bloody insurgency against Somalia's fragile federal government for over 17 years. Despite a relative lull in attacks in recent months due to a government offensive against the militants, the group has continued its campaign of terror.
Just a day before the café bombing, five inmates believed to be Al-Shabaab fighters were killed in a shootout with prison guards during an attempted jailbreak from Mogadishu's main prison. Three guards were also killed, and 18 others were wounded in the confrontation.
Somalia's President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud has pledged an "all-out" war against the jihadists. Government troops, supported by local clan militias, the African Union force, and US airstrikes, have been conducting a military campaign against Al-Shabaab. However, the offensive has faced setbacks, with the militants claiming control over multiple locations in central Somalia earlier this year.
Despite being driven out of Mogadishu by AU forces in 2011, Al-Shabaab maintains a strong presence in rural Somalia and continues to target political, security, and civilian sites in Somalia and neighboring countries, including Kenya.
In light of the ongoing violence, Somalia has requested the African Union to slow down its planned withdrawal of peacekeeping forces. The AU Peace and Security Council has expressed strong support for a phased approach to the drawdown, adjusting the initial schedule to meet the Somali government's request for a more gradual reduction in troop numbers.
The bombing at the Top Coffee Restaurant is a grim reminder of the persistent threat posed by Al-Shabaab and the challenges Somalia faces in securing peace and stability.
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