Over 20 killed as Somali forces end siege of restaurant

“This latest atrocity by Al-Shabaab is very deliberately meant to intimidate Somali civilians”, Secretary General special representative Michael Keating said, according to UN News Center.

“It’s a sad day, whenever a hope comes up it gets dashed by such attacks”, said Mumina Ahmed.

“They shot and killed indiscriminately”, police Captain Mohamed Aloley said at the scene of the assault.

The minister added that one gunman was captured when security forces entered the building to end the attack.

Al Shabaab disputed the claim and went ahead to publish graphic images showing bullet-riddled bodies of dozens of Kenyan soldiers.

The Beach View and Lido Sea Food restaurants were targeted, Abdirahman Koronto from the BBC’s Somali service reports. A party had been taking place when the attack started.

Islamist attacks on a beach hotel and a restaurant in Somalia’s capital Mogadishu have claimed 28 lives, police said Friday, marking a rise in the previously reported death toll of 20.

Witnesses said that gunmen shouted “Allahu akbar”, the Arabic phrase for “God is great”, and entered the restaurant from the direction of the beach as clients, sitting behind razor wire, watched the seashore.

Those who survived described how the gunmen sprayed those in the restaurant with automatic weapons.

Al-Shabaab has waged an insurgency in Somalia since 2006 to impose its version of Islamic law.

Al-Shabaab, a jihadi terrorist group, was ousted from Mogadishu in August 2011, but still has a presence in large areas of southern Somalia.

Last week an African Union peacekeeping (AMISOM) base was attacked by Al-Shabab leaving over 61 Kenyan forces dead and 31 hostages.

A vehicle packed with explosives rammed into Lido beach restaurant in Mogadishu on Thursday evening, after which several attackers opened fire at the hotel, killing at least 20 people and injuring 25 others.