15 Killed as Somalia Bomb Hits Restaurant at Lunchtime

At least 15 people died when a bomb exploded on a busy street and ripped into a nearby restaurant in Somalia's capital on Thursday, medics said.

Security officials and witnesses reported bodies strewn on the ground as plumes of smoke rose high into the air after the bomb detonated on Mogadishu's Maka Al-Mukarama road, one of the seaside capital's main thoroughfares, an area busy with businesses and travelers.

It struck as people were eating lunch.

Abdulkadir Abdirahman Adan, director of the Aamin Ambulance service, said that 15 people had been killed, as well as several more wounded by the ferocious blast.

Witnesses described scenes of devastation.

"The car bomb struck a restaurant along the road," said Abdulahi Osman, who was nearby to the explosion. "This really was a disaster."

Vehicles were tossed into the air by the blast, which also damaged surrounding buildings. Witnesses said several cars and three-wheeler motorbikes were destroyed by the force of the explosion.

"I saw 16 people carried from the blast scene -- and more than 10 of them were already dead," Osman added.

Ambulance workers rushed in to help take the wounded to hospital.

"I don't know whether they were dead or wounded, but I could see several people strewn in the street -- some of them were motionless," said Suado Ahmed, another witness who was at the scene moments after the blast.

Teams of ambulance workers carried away those killed and wounded on stretchers, while volunteers also helped by using plastic sheeting to lift the bodies away.

The bombing is the latest in a recent string of blasts in Mogadishu, which has been hit regularly by Al-Shabaab attacks.

At least four people were killed earlier this week in three blasts, including car bombs and roadside explosions.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for Thursday's bombing.

However, Mogadishu is a target of the al-Qaida affiliated Shabaab insurgents, who have been fighting for over a decade to topple the government.

Shabaab fighters fled fixed positions they once held in Mogadishu in 2011, and have since lost many of their strongholds.

But they retain control of large rural swathes of the country, and continue to wage a guerrilla war against the authorities.

On Saturday, Shabaab gunmen attacked a complex housing government ministries in Mogadishu, killing 11 people including the deputy labor minister.

The Shabaab continue to strike at the heart of Somalia's government, despite years of foreign military support.