Bomb blast at Mogadishu tea shop kills as many as 11

A bomb blast on Friday at a Mogadishu tea shop killed as many as 11, including several soldiers and the shop's owner.

"I could see several motionless people lying in the scene," said Fatuma Hassan, a mother of three who was near the bomb blast. "The whole place was ruined and stained with blood."

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Several others were injured and rushed to the hospital.

Reports said a senior military officer and his bodyguards were among the dead, though it is not known if he was the target of the attack.

Police suspected al-Qaeda-linked Islamist group Al Shabaab planted the bomb in the notoriously insecure Dayniile district, known as a place where the militants often hide.

Al Shabaab did not immediately claim responsibility.

The radical group once controlled most of Mogadishu, but was driven out of the capital city in 2011 by an African Union-led peacekeeping force. It does, however, still control many southern and central areas of Somalia.