At least 13 killed by suicide bomber in central Somalia

 According to authorities, the explosion caused 'massive damage' at a restaurant that was packed with lawmakers and government personnel.

On Saturday, a suicide bomber detonated explosives at a restaurant crowded with local authorities and politicians in the Somali capital of Mogadishu, killing at least 13 people.

According to police spokeswoman Dini Roble Ahmed, the majority of those killed were civilians, with another 20 persons injured in the town of Beledweyne. He went on to say that the explosion had caused "massive damage."

[Farah Abdi Warsameh/AP]

It was reported by witnesses that a massive explosion tore through an open section of the Hassan Dhiif restaurant, where customers had gathered beneath trees to have their lunch.

"I witnessed multiple dead corpses and I couldn't keep track of how many people were injured and transported to the hospital," said witness Mahad Osman. It was when some of these folks were waiting for their ordered lunches to arrive while taking advantage of the pleasant weather that the explosion occurred."

Police and government officials acknowledged that the restaurant incident was the result of a suicide bomber, but they did not provide an estimate of how many people were killed or injured.

Although security had been reinforced in Beledweyne on the day of the first round of voting for parliamentary seats in the constituency, which is 340 kilometers (210 miles) north of the capital Mogadishu, the incident took place.

According to police officer Mohamud Hassan, two deputy district commissioners were among those who died. This was the bloodiest incident I can recall in this town, and it was carried out by a lone gunman."

According to a report by SITE intelligence, which monitors armed organizations on the internet, al-Shabab claimed credit for the incident.

The gang, which routinely assaults government targets as well as individuals, has launched two attacks in the last two weeks, according to the Associated Press. Al-Shabab, an al-Qaeda-affiliated terrorist organization, seeks to overthrow the central government.

According to locals, one of those slain in the incident in Beledweyne was a candidate in a currently running parliamentary election in the country.

On November 1, parliamentary elections were held across the country. They were originally scheduled to conclude on December 24, but are now expected to be concluded on February 25, according to the latest available information.

In Somalia's indirect electoral procedure, delegates, which include clan leaders, select members of the lower house, who will then vote for a new president at a later date that has not yet been determined by the government.

The latest attacks by al-Shabab, which have caused the election to be postponed by a year, might create further difficulties for the process.

It is Somalia's international backers who are concerned that the election standoff would divert attention away from the war against al-Shabab, which has been fighting the country's weak central government for more than a decade.

SOURCE: NEWS AGENCIES