Three killed in restaurant suicide bomb attack in Somalia

Three people were killed and seven were injured on Wednesday when a suicide bomber walked into a Mogadishu restaurant and blew himself up, a Somali government spokesman said.

Information Ministry spokesman Ismail Mukhtar Omar said the attacker targeted the Blue Sky restaurant near the Mogadishu National Theatre.

"The target of the suicide bomber was civilians sitting at the restaurant, he walked [among] them and detonated himself killing three civilians and wounding seven others," he said.

"I was walking towards the location when the blast occurred and instantly got to the incident scene. Among the dead was a very young child."

Witnesses said security forces cordoned off the scene after the blast, temporarily suspending movement in the area.

"The blast was very heavy, and I saw people rushed to hospital, some of them were seriously wounded," said witness Kasim Ali.

There was no immediate claim for the attack.

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The Al-Qaeda linked Islamist group Al-Shabaab frequently attacks civilian and government targets in Mogadishu -- which it controlled until it was driven out by African Union troops in 2011.

On Monday a suicide bomber killed five Somali soldiers and seriously wounded an American military adviser in a village outside the southern port city of Kismayo.

In August, 10 civilians and a police officer were killed in a gun and bomb attack by Al-Shabaab fighters on an upscale beachfront hotel in the capital.

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