A car bomb exploded near a café in the capital of Somalia, Mogadishu, on Monday, May 8, killing at least 8 people. According to official reports one of them is a Somali general.
Al Shabab, the local extremist group linked to Al Qaeda, claimed responsibility for the attack.
“We are behind the blast,” Sheikh Abdiasis Abu Musab, the group’s military operations spokesman, told Reuters. “The targets were police, intelligence, military officials and immigration workers.”
Capt. Mohamed Hussein said that a car bomb was detonated outside Bar Italia, which is located close to Somalia’s immigration department. Government officials confirmed that General Abdi Bashir Aden was one of the people who were killed by the attack and that ten more people were injured. According to Reuters eight people were killed by the bomb. Another witness said that there was gunfire after the explosion.
The car bomb attack comes just a day after Senior Chief Special Warfare Operator Kyle Milliken, a 38-year-old Navy SEAL, was killed while supporting an operation by Somalia’s military in the same area west of Mogadishu. The Pentagon called it the first U.S. combat death in Somalia since 1993.
