A suicide bomber blew himself up in an ice-cream parlour in the Somali capital, Mogadishu, killing seven people, a police official said.
Ten others were wounded in the attack on Friday, said senior police officer Mohamed Dahir. The death toll could rise as the critically injured were rushed to nearby hospitals, he added.
The Gelato Divino restaurant is located near K4 Junction in the heart of Mogadishu, near the international airport.
This latest attack comes days after five people were killed in Mogadishu on November 17, after a suicide bomber blew himself up in a restaurant near a police academy.
It was not immediately clear who was responsible for the blast on Friday, but the armed group al-Shabab – which is allied with al-Qaeda – frequently carries out bombings in the capital and elsewhere, including the attack on November 17.
Thousands of people have died in the fighting between the armed group and the Somali government forces in the past 30 years.
In August, 10 civilians and a police officer were killed in a gun-and-bomb attack by al-Shabab on an upscale beachfront hotel in the capital.
That same month, four al-Shabab fighters held in Mogadishu’s central prison were killed in an encounter with security forces after they somehow managed to get their hands on weapons within the facility.
At least seven people were killed in a separate attack in August when a car bomb exploded at an army base in Mogadishu where members of the Somali National Army (SNA) were stationed.
BY OSMAN HUSSEIN ALI
