Top Coffee bombing

On the night of 14 July 2024, a car bomb exploded near Daljirka Daahsoon in the Boondheere neighborhood of Mogadishu, Somalia. The blast occurred at approximately 10:28 p.m. local time and targeted Top Coffee, a coffeehouse where patrons had gathered to watch the Euro 2024 football final between England and Spain. The venue is located less than 500 meters from Villa Somalia, the official residence and principal workplace of the President of Somalia.

According to reporting, a suicide bomber affiliated with Al-Shabaab parked a vehicle loaded with explosives outside the café before detonating it. Most of those killed and injured were bystanders on the street and spectators who had gathered to watch the match. The explosion killed at least nine people and injured 20 others. Al-Shabaab, a militant group active in Somalia, claimed responsibility for the attack.

The attack has been described as part of a pattern in which Al-Shabaab has targeted public gatherings where people watch football matches. Cited background examples include a 11 July 2010 bombing of two locations in Kampala, Uganda, during the World Cup final, which killed 74 people and injured 85 others, and a 15 June 2014 attack on the town of Mpeketoni in Kenya, where many residents were watching World Cup matches in public settings; that attack resulted in at least 60 deaths.

In the aftermath of the Top Coffee bombing, Somali political figures issued public reactions. Former President of Somalia Sharif Sheikh Ahmed commented on the attack via social media, and former Somali Minister of Planning and International Cooperation Abdirahman Abdishakur Warsame also posted about the bombing online.

As of the available reporting, the attack has been attributed to Al-Shabaab, which claimed responsibility.