Islamist Gunmen Kill 17 in Attack on Beach Restaurant in Somalia

Two car bombs exploded at different times on the same beach killing 17 people in a Somalia beach.

Relatives carry away a dead body from the beach following an overnight attack on a beachfront restaurant in Mogadishu, Somalia, Friday, January 22, 2016. (Photo: AP)

At least 17 people were killed when Islamist gunmen struck a popular beachside restaurant in the Somali capital of Mogadishu late on Thursday, local police said.

Al Shabaab, a militant group aligned with the al Qaeda, said its members set off two car bombs at the Beach View Cafe on Mogadishu’s popular Lido beach.

<p> We are inside and control the cafe. There are many casualties lying inside and outside the cafe.</p>

<b>Sheikh Abdiasis Abu Musab, al Shabaab’s military operation spokesman said during the attack</b>

A Somali man cries after identifying the dead body of his sister on the beach. (Photo: AP)

Police said al Shabaab fighters set off the first car bomb at dusk. A huge second blast, which witnesses said echoed around the city centre, struck about an hour later as government soldiers laid siege to the restaurant.

Wreckage of vehicles outside a beachfront restaurant. (Photo: AP)

The militants engaged in a gun battle for hours with government troops trying to flush them out. Police officer Osman Nur said the operation ended at 3 am Thursday night.

Al Shabaab wants to topple the Western-backed government in Mogadishu and impose a strict version of Islamic law across Somalia, a nation racked by conflict since the outbreak of civil war in 1991.