MOGADISHU: The death toll from a car bombing at a cafe in Somalia´s capital Mogadishu that was packed with football fans watching the Euro 2024 final has risen to nine, security sources said on Monday.
Witnesses described scenes of panic and chaos after the powerful blast late Sunday, with people scrambling for safety and the main entrance to the cafe destroyed by the blaze.
Mohamed Yusuf, an official from the national security agency, said nine civilians were killed and 20 others wounded in the explosion, raising the official toll of five given by police late Sunday. The popular Top Coffee restaurant, which is located near the presidential palace in the centre of the city, was thronged with young men watching the final that Spain won 2-1 against England.
“There were many people inside the restaurant, most of them youth who were watching the football match... but thanks to God, most of them made their way out safely after using ladders to climb up and jump over the backside perimeter wall,” Yusuf said.
No group has claimed responsibility for the bombing, but the state-run Somali National News Agency said Sunday it was carried out by al-Qaeda linked Al-Shabaab jihadists. Images posted online showed a huge fireball and plumes of smoke billowing into the night sky as the explosion ripped through the cafe.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation seal is seen at FBI headquarters in Washington, US June 14, 2018. — ReutersNEW...
Astronaut Wang Haoze will become the third Chinese woman to take part in a crewed mission when the Shenzhou-19 team...
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres gestures as he attends a news conference in Beirut, Lebanon,...
A Yars intercontinental ballistic missile is launched during Russian military drills on October 29, 2024. — Russian...
The spot where an explosion occurred in a firework storage facility near Hindu temple at Nileshwaram, in the sourthern...
United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk, right, looks at graffiti on the walls of Dhaka...