[An Nahar] Two jacket wallahs attacked a restaurant in Somalia's capital Mogadishu on Saturday, wounding several people, police said, and killing one victim, according to a witness."There were two suicide bombers who attacked the Village restaurant. The two of them have died and other people who stayed in the place were maimed. We are still investigating the casualties," said Abdi Adan, a Somali police officer.
A witness to the attack, Ahmed Salad Ibrahim, said a security guard at the restaurant had been killed in the blast -- a report police said they could not immediately confirm.
"I was sitting inside the restaurant premises when gunfire started at the gate. We stood and rushed to find out what was happening and I saw the security guard at the gate holding the bomber before he detonated," Ibrahim said.
"As I was shocked with smoke and dust covering the whole area, another suicide bomber let 'er rip outside," he added.
"The guard and the two bombers died while many other civilians were maimed, but I cannot say exactly how many were maimed."
Another witness, Idle Husien, said there had been a "heavy exchange" of gunfire followed by large kabooms.
"I'm not far away from the place and I can see people injured and the severed dead bodies of the suicide bombers," Husien said.
The Village is owned by a restaurateur of Somali origin who recently relocated to Mogadishu from London, where he trained as a chef.
In September another of his restaurants, also named the Village and located in Mogadishu, was hit by a suicide kaboom that killed 18 people, including three journalists.
The restaurants have been mentioned several times recently in the international press as a symbol of a nascent return to normal life in Mogadishu after more than 20 years of civil war and violence.