Al-Shabab Attack Kills 11 in Mogadishu

WASHINGTON/MOGADISHU - An explosion from suicide bombing has killed at least 11 people Tuesday in the Somali capital, witnesses and officials said.

Witnesses said a suicide bomber walked into a teashop made of corrugated tin and detonated an explosive vest.    The attack occurred near a checkpoint manned by Somali government security forces in Wadajir district, which is next to both Mogadishu’s airport and the headquarters of the Africa Union forces known as AMISOM.    Soldiers as well as civilians are among the dead according to a Somali government official who requested anonymity because he is not allowed to speak to the media.    The al-Shabab militant group claimed responsibility for the attack.    The prime minister of Somalia, Mohamed Hussein Roble, condemned the “barbaric act” by al-Shabab. 

 “I condemn today's bombing by al-Shabab terrorists at a teashop in Wadajir district, which resulted in the death and injury of innocent people,” he said in a Twitter post. “May God have mercy on the dead and heal the wounded.”    Roble said the attack shows that al-Shabab are “thirsty for the indiscriminate bloodshed of the Somali people.”    Thousands of Somali civilians have been killed in the fighting involving al-Shabab since 2006. The group is fighting to overthrow the international supported government of Somalia.