U.S. and Somali forces have conducted a joint operation against the Islamist group al-Shabaab, destroying a major training camp and command outpost days after a deadly attack on a military base in northern Somalia.
At least five armed attackers then stormed the Posh Treats and the neighbouring Pizza House cafe, opening machine gun fire and causing panic and chaos, security officials and witnesses told dpa.
Somalia-based al-Shabaab has claimed responsibility.
It said al-Shabaab has also increased its combat capability by seizing heavy weaponry, armored vehicles, explosives, small arms, ammunition, and other miscellaneous supplies.
The group, which is seeking to establish an Islamist state in Somalia, is affiliated with the global al-Qaeda terrorist network. Attackers moved from room to room, looking for people, said a survivor.
Witnesses, including a VOA reporter who was at the scene, said they heard a hail of bullets and explosions as the special Somali forces known as Danab, or "lightning", pushed forward to end the siege.
The al-Qaeda affiliated group admitted carrying out the attack early on Thursday.
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US President Donald Trump also approved expanded operations, including airstrikes, against Al-Shabab.
Following the attack, a hostage situation is persisting inside the popular Pizza restaurant.
Police say the death toll in an overnight attack by al-Shabab extremists on a popular restaurant in Somalia's capital has risen to 31.
A woman grieves for her daughter, who was shot by militants during an attack on a restaurant in Mogadishu, Somalia.
The gunmen "were dressed in military uniforms". Police said the bodies of five girls thought to have been killed by militants were found in the restaurant. Numerous first victims were young men who had been entering the Pizza House when the bomb went off, Hussein said.
The group has vowed to step up attacks after the recently elected government launched a new military offensive against it. In 2016 Bloomberg described Pizza House as a relatively expensive three-story eatery with a movie theater and views over the Indian Ocean. "The operation goes one", Abdiasis Abu Musab, the group's military spokesman, told Reuters.
The assault was claimed by al-Shabaab terror group, which in recent months has carried out numerous attacks on hotels and restaurants in the capital, killing dozens of civilians.
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