Somali authorities announced that they killed a group of members of the militant Islamist group Al-Shabab on Thursday evening after an attack that the group carried out on a seaside restaurant in the Somali capital Mogadishu which resulted in the deaths of ten people.

The attack comes a few days before the conflict-riddled city Mogadishu will host a high-level Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) summit which the presidents of participating countries are expected to attend. The country is also preparing to hold indirect parliamentary and presidential elections during the next two months. The police chief for the administrative region of Banaadir Colonel Bashar Abshar Jayyidi said that special forces were able to kill the attackers and arrest one gunmen. He also pointed out that twenty other people were rescued by security forces.

Security forces exchanged fire with gunmen who were holed up in a popular restaurant near the Lido beach which is usually frequented by young couples and Somali officials.

A car bomb exploded at Banaadir beach restaurant at Lido beach and there was an exchange of gunfire between the gunmen who were holed up in the restaurant and security forces that were forced to enter cautiously because the attackers were throwing hand made bombs at them.

Al-Shabab claimed responsibility for the attack on the website for its radio station Radio Andalus, and its military operation spokesman Abdiasis Abu Musab told Reuters “We attacked the Banadir beach restaurant and now our fighters are fighting inside it”.

In a statement issued by the US Embassy, America condemned the terrorist attack and expressed its condolences to the families and relatives of victims of the brutal attack and wished a speedy recovery to the wounded. The statement also said that the terrorist attack is definitive evidence that Al-Shabab militias that are linked to Al-Qaeda target innocent citizens.