At least 32 people were killed in a suicide attack carried out by al-Shabab militants at a popular beachfront location in the Somali capital, a police spokesman said on Saturday.

Abdifatah Adan Hassan said around 63 people were also wounded, some of them critically.

Video footage showed a number of bodies and wounded people in Mogadishu’s Abdiaziz district.

Al-Shabab controls large parts of southern and central Somalia. The group is affiliated to al-Qaeda and has waged a brutal insurgency for nearly 20 years against the UN-backed government in Somalia.

In a statement claiming the attack, al-Shabab said “politicians, [security] forces and employees from various ministries and offices” were among those killed.

The group says the death toll and injuries are much higher than figures released by the police.

One eyewitness told AFP news agency people were in a state of panic, as “it was hard to know what was happening because shooting started soon after the blast”.

Abdilatif Ali said some people attempted to take cover on Lido beach, while others tried to flee the location.

“I saw wounded people at the beachside. People were screaming in panic and it was hard to notice who was dead and who was still alive,” he added.

At least five people were responsible for the attack, as Mr Hasan said one attacker blew himself up while three others were killed.

One attacker was captured alive, the police spokesman told reporters in Mogadishu.

Moussa Faki Mahamat, chair of the African Union Commission, described the attack as “horrific”.

The Somali Disaster Management Agency urged people to donate blood to support injured victims.