Somalia: Suicide bomber hits Mogadishu cafe during Euro 2024 final

A powerful explosion struck outside a cafe in the center of the Somali capital Mogadishu late on Sunday, as a group of customers had gathered to watch the final of the Euro 2024 tournament there. 

There were conflicting early reports on casualty numbers but state media cited police spokesman Major Abdifatah Aden Hassan as saying that at least five people had died and at least another 20 were injured. 

Investigators warned these preliminary tallies were likely to rise.

What do we know so far? 

Images online appeared to show a large fire in the vicinity of the Top Coffee cafe in the aftermath. 

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#BREAKING: At least 5 dead, 20 injured after car bomb detonated outside café filled with people watching the Euro 2024 final in Mogadishu, Somalia https://t.co/viH5hINGKO pic.twitter.com/jnLm3FDj4V

— World Source News 24/7 (@Worldsource24) July 14, 2024 >

Police cordoned off the area, which is close to the presidential palace compound known as Villa Somalia and was busy at the time of the blast. The cafe is a popular hangout for government employees.

Investigators said they believed that a car parked outside the cafe had exploded. It was not immediately clear whether a suicide bomber was inside the vehicle.

The force of the large blast also caused damage to nearby buildings. 

No claim of responsibility, but al-Shabab active and powerful in Somalia

No group claimed responsibility in the immediate aftermath. 

The attack was reminiscent of one in 2010 by the Islamist al-Shabab militia in Uganda, perpetrated by the group rooted in Somalia. 

Back then, it set off bombs at a venue in Kampala, where a much larger crowd of hundreds had gathered to watch the World Cup final. In total 74 people were killed. 

The al-Qaeda-linked group opposes football, saying it is against their religion. It recently attempted an attack during a football tournament at the local stadium in Mogadishu. 

Al-Shabab has been waging an insurgency for some 17 years against Somalia's government, with bombings in Mogadishu and other cities common in recent years. 

Fatal attempted jailbreak in the capital on Saturday

There had been a relative lull in recent weeks and months but this was shattered earlier in the weekend.

On Saturday, five inmates described by law enforcement as al-Shabab fighters were killed in a shootout with prison guards in a bid to break out of Mogadishu's main prison. 

Three guards were also killed and 18 others wounded in the incident. 

Somalia's President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud has pledged "all-out" war against the militants. Government troops have joined forces with local clan militias in a military campaign supported by the African Union and by US air strikes. 

Despite this, al-Shabab retains a strong presence in rural Somalia and claimed earlier this year to have taken control of multiple locations in the center of the country. 

Somalia's government has protested plans to gradually withdraw troops from the African Union Transition Mission in Somalia (ATMIS) from the country, and to leave Somalian forces in charge of security operations, by the end of this year. 

The rate of withdrawal has already been slowed in response to this request, with 2,000 more ATMIS troops than originally planned remaining in the country at least for a few extra months.

Questions persist about the country's security and if it can handle the withdrawal. Control of Mogadishu was only wrested back from al-Shabab in 2010 with African Union assistance.