At least 32 people were killed and many others injured, according to police, in a suicide attack by the Shebaab extremist group, followed by gunmen, on a popular beach in the Somali capital Mogadishu.

“More than 32 civilians were killed in this attack, and 63 others were injured, some seriously,” police spokesman Abdifattah Adan Hassan told reporters today. According to AFP, the previous police toll was seven dead. Earlier, a police spokesman had told the German agency that at least 14 people had been killed.

Police and eyewitnesses told AFP today that a kamikaze detonated the explosives he carried on him last night at Lido Beach, a popular meeting place for businessmen and civil servants. This district, which has hotels and restaurants, has been the target of attacks in the past.

The attackers then opened fire, according to the same source.

“Terrorists without mercy killed civilians indiscriminately,” police officer Mohamed Omar told AFP today, adding that Somali security forces had killed five members of the radical Islamist group Shebab, which pledges allegiance to al-Qaeda.

The al-Shabaab jihadist group has repeatedly carried out bombings and other attacks in Mogadishu and other parts of the war-torn country.