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 on 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.

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 perimetre wall,” Yusuf said.

No group has claimed responsibility for the bombing, but the state-run Somali National News Agency said 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.

‘Bleeding and screaming’

“I was inside the restaurant watching the football match when I heard a huge explosion, there was smoke, dust and fire at the front side of the restaurant and we panicked,” Said Muktar said.

“I and several other people rushed towards the main entrance, but it was completely inaccessible,” he said, adding that he saw people “bleeding and screaming”.

“The whole situation was chaos.” Images of the aftermath of the bombing on Monday showed piles of rubble where the restaurant once stood and several burnt-o.ut vehicles, as local residents inspected the scene. Police officer Mohamed Salad said he rushed to the site a few minutes after the blast.

“Five people died outside the building and on the main road including drivers of vehicles that were passing by the area,” he said. “Four people died inside the restaurant, some of them removed from under the debris.”

Attempted jailbreak

Al Shabaab has been waging a bloody insurgency against Somalia’s fragile federal government for more than 17 years and has carried out numerous bombings in Mogadishu and elsewhere in the country.

There had been a relative lull in attacks in recent months as the government presses on with an offensive against the militants. But on Saturday, five inmates said to be Al Shabaab fighters were killed in a shootout with guards in an attempted jail break from the main prison in Mogadishu.

Three guards were also killed and 18 others wounded, prison officials said, after the inmates managed to get hold of weapons.

Somalia’s President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud has vowed “all-out” war against the jihadists and government troops have joined forces with local clan militias in a military campaign supported by an African Union force and US air strikes.

But the offensive has suffered setbacks, with Al Shabaab earlier this year claiming it had taken multiple locations in central Somalia.

Published in Dawn, July 16th, 2024