POLICE in Somalia reported on Saturday that 32 people had died and 63 others were wounded in an attack on a Mogadishu beach hotel the previous evening.

Al-Qaida’s east Africa affiliate, al-Shabab, claimed through its radio station that its fighters carried out the attack in the capital.

Police spokesperson Major Abdifatah Adan Hassan told journalists that one soldier was killed and another wounded, while the rest of the dead were civilians. 

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

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

Another witness, Abdisalam Adam he “saw many people lying on the ground” and helped take some wounded people to the hospital.

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

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 campaign to impose an Islamic state.