Al-Shabab attack on Mogadishu hotel leaves at least 11 dead with death toll expected to rise
Al-Shabab lost their foothold in the capital in 2011 but continue their battle to overthrow the Somali government.
At least 11 people were killed on Saturday in an attack on a hotel in the Somali capital Mogadishu that was swiftly claimed by al-Qaeda-affiliated al-Shabab militants.
The assault, the latest in a series by the Islamist 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 the authorities declared the attack over.
The attack started with a heavy blast carried out by a brother who drove a car loaded with explosives
“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,” Abdi Kamil Shukri, a security ministry spokesman, told reporters.
Medical sources said some 20 civilians were wounded.
The attack was launched at 4.30pm with a powerful blast followed by two other explosions and then heavy gunfire, a witness said.
The Naasa Hablood hotel in southern Mogadishu is often used by politicians and members of the Somali diaspora visiting the city.
Somali security forces moved quickly to cordon off access to the neighbourhood as they raced to retake the hotel.