Attack at beach hotel by al Qaeda-linked group kills at least 32 in Somalia

Police in Somalia said Saturday that 32 people died and 63 others were wounded in an attack on a beach hotel in the capital, Mogadishu, the previous evening.

Al Qaeda's East Africa affiliate, al-Shabab, said through its radio that its fighters carried out the attack.

Police spokesperson Maj. Abdifatah Adan Hassan told journalists that one soldier was killed in the attack and that the rest were civilians. Another soldier was also wounded in the attack, Hassan said. Witnesses reported an explosion followed by gunfire.

Lido Beach, a popular area in Mogadishu, is bustling on Friday nights as Somalis enjoy their weekend.

A witness, Mohamud Moalim, told The Associated Press that he saw an attacker wearing an explosive vest moments before the man "blew himself up next to the beach-view hotel."

Moalim said some of his friends who were with him at the hotel were killed and others were wounded.

Another witness, Abdisalam Adam, told the AP that he "saw many people lying on the ground" and had helped take some wounded people to the hospital.

The Lido Beach area has in the past been targeted by militants allied to al-Shabab. The most recent attack last year killed nine people.

In a separate attack on Saturday, state media reported that seven people died after a passenger vehicle hit a roadside bomb some 40 kilometers (25 miles) from the capital.

Al-Shabab still controls parts of southern and central Somalia and continues to carry out attacks in Mogadishu and other areas while extorting millions of dollars a year from residents and businesses in its quest to impose an Islamic state.

Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud last year declared a "total war" on the militants as the country started taking charge of its own security.

The Friday attack comes a month after Somalia started the third phase of the drawdown of peacekeeping troops under the African Union Transition Mission.