2024 Mogadishu Market Bombing

On 6 February 2024, a series of four bombings occurred inside the Bakaara Market in Mogadishu, the capital of Somalia. The attacks took place at around 2:50 p.m. in four locations at the center of the crowded market. The first bombing killed two employees, and the subsequent explosions killed eight more people, comprising shoppers and workers, bringing the total death toll to at least ten. More than twenty people were injured and admitted to the Erdoğan Hospital facility, according to three nurses at the hospital.

The Bakaara Market is a well-known commercial hub in Mogadishu where goods, services, firearms, and daily essentials such as petrol, food, wheat, medicine, clothes, and electronics are sold. The market is also known for illicit activity, including the sale of forged passports, forged university diplomas, and forged birth certificates. The market had previously been targeted in an attack attributed to the militant group Al-Shabaab during the civil war on 15 October 2009, when a shelling attack killed 20 people and injured 58 others.

In the aftermath of the February 2024 bombings, no group claimed responsibility, although Al-Shabaab was suspected. A trader at the market, Hassan Ali, said he had counted 10 dead people and 15 others injured, and that his shop was completely destroyed. The Government of Somalia had no immediate comment on the bombing.

Somalia's National Intelligence and Security Agency (NISA) launched a nationwide appeal for public assistance in identifying six individuals described as suspects behind the bombing. NISA released photographs of the six people and stated that security agencies were actively searching for those responsible, appealing to the public for information that could lead to their apprehension. Banadir region's Deputy Governor, Mohamed Ahmed Diriye, said the attacks were not mortar strikes but were the result of planted explosives.

As of the available reporting, no arrests, charges, or convictions have been publicly confirmed in connection with the bombings, and the case remains unresolved. The attack occurred amid a broader series of bombings in Mogadishu in 2024, including the Lido Beach attack, the SYL Hotel attack and siege, the Top Coffee bombing, and a tea shop bombing.