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MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) — Police in Somalia said Saturday that 32 people died and 63 others were wounded in an attack on a beach hotel in the capital, Mogadishu, the previous evening.
Al-Qaida’s East Africa affiliate, al-Shabab, said through its radio station that its fighters carried out the attack.
Police spokesperson Maj. Abdifatah Adan Hassan told journalists that one soldier was killed and another wounded, while the rest of the dead were civilians. Witnesses reported an explosion followed by gunfire.
Lido Beach, a popular area in Mogadishu, is bustling on Friday nights as Somalis enjoy their weekend.
A witness, Mohamud Moalim, told The Associated Press that he saw an attacker wearing an explosive vest moments before the man “blew himself up next to the beach-view hotel.”
Moalim said some of his friends who were with him at the hotel were killed and others were wounded.
Another witness, Abdisalam Adam, told the AP that he “saw many people lying on the ground” and had helped take some wounded people to the hospital.
The Lido Beach area has in the past been targeted by militants allied to al-Shabab. The most recent attack last year killed nine people.
In a separate attack on Saturday, state media reported that seven people died after a passenger vehicle hit a roadside bomb some 40 kilometers (25 miles) from the capital.
Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud last year declared a “total war” on the militants as the country started taking charge of its own security.
Al-Shabab still controls parts of southern and central Somalia and continues to carry out attacks in Mogadishu and other areas while extorting millions of dollars a year from residents and businesses in its quest to impose an Islamic state.
Friday's attack came a month after Somalia started the third phase of the drawdown of peacekeeping troops under the African Union Transition Mission.
The U.N Secretary-General’s Acting Special Representative for Somalia, James Swan, on Saturday expressed support and solidarity for Somalia “in its efforts to ensure peace, security, and stability.”
He said Lido Beach is frequented by families and that “targeting this location is an abhorrent act that warrants the firmest condemnation.”