(Xinhua) — {Ten people were killed and several others injured on Sunday after a car bomb parked near a crowded cafe in Somali capital Mogadishu went off, police and witnesses said.}
It was not immediately clear if the car bomb was remotely detonated or was driven by a suicide bomber, but police said “it looked like a remotely controlled explosion.”
“Ten people got killed on the spot and several others were taken to hospitals for treatment and care,” police officer Ali Hassan told Xinhua.
State radio, Radio Mogadishu, also confirmed the death of at least ten people in the explosion, which it blames on the radical Islamist group of Al-Shabaab.
Witnesses said there were human body parts all around the area of the explosion, which is frequented by local residents and civil servants.
The cafe, Oroma Cafe, is along the main Maka Al Mukarrama Street that leads from the airport to the State House in Mogadishu, and was packed when the explosion happened.
Local hospital ambulances rushed to the scene of the explosion and were ferrying the injured to hospitals as Somali police and security agencies cordoned off the scene of the blast to carry out searches for the culprits.
No group has so far claimed responsibility for the attack, but the militant Islamist group of Al-Shabaab has previously launched and took responsibility for similar attacks.
This comes as Somali government forces backed by African Union peacekeeping forces continue a major offensive against Al-Qaida linked militants, and have reclaimed key towns and villages from fighters of the radical group, including the main port town of Barawe, south of Mogadishu.
The Somali government vowed that its forces will continue the onslaught on the militant hideouts.
Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamoud said in an interview with Xinhua on Saturday that his government will drive out extremists from remaining areas before the end of the year.
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