At least 11 people were killed on Saturday in an attack on a hotel in the Somalian capital of Mogadishu that was swiftly claimed by al-Shabaab militants.
The assault, the latest in a series by the Muslim group targeting hotels and restaurants, began when a suicide bomber detonated a car laden with explosives outside the building.
Gunmen then stormed the Naasa Hablood hotel and gunfire rang out for several hours, witnesses said, before authorities declared the attack over.
Photo: Reuters
“The special security forces have ended the siege after killing three attackers inside the hotel. Eleven civilians, two of them doctors, were killed in the attack,” Somalian Ministry of Security spokesman Abdi Kamil Shukri told reporters.
Medical sources said that about 20 civilians were wounded.
The attack was launched at 4:30pm with a powerful blast followed by two other explosions and then heavy gunfire, reporters and a witness said.
The Naasa Hablood hotel in southern Mogadishu is often used by politicians and members of the Somali diaspora visiting the city.
Somalian security forces moved quickly to cordon off access to the neighborhood as they raced to retake the hotel, a photographer said.
A witness, Adan Ibrahim, said a number of people were able to flee the hotel through a back door.
Pictures from the scene showed people in blood-covered clothes running down a street.
Al-Shabaab claimed responsibility for the attack through a statement on the Telegram smartphone app, saying that their fighters had forced their way into the hotel.
“The attack started with a heavy blast carried out by a brother who drove a car loaded with explosives,” the group said. “Gunmen fought their way into the hotel and we believe that casualties were inflicted in the enemy’s ranks.”
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