Conflict Trends

Somalia

Al-Shabaab claimed a suicide attack at a restaurant in Mogadishu on Wednesday that killed three people and wounded seven. Crisis Group expert Omar Mahmood says the bombing highlights Al-Shabaab’s recently augmented attack profile in Somalia’s capital. Following a period of relative calm, at least eight suicide attacks have occured in the city since June. The group may be exploiting the deadlock among Somalia’s political elite over national elections, constitutionally mandated to begin by the end of this year, to bolster its posture both in Mogadishu and elsewhere in the country, while demonstrating the heightened threat it may pose during the upcoming electoral cycle.