At least eight civilians were killed in clashes between radical Al-Shabaab Islamists who attacked a Mogadishu hotel in the Somali capital on Friday night and security forces trying to neutralize them, a security official said on Saturday. Somali, Mohamed Abdikadir. “Security forces continued to neutralize the terrorists who were surrounded in a room in the hotel building, most people were rescued but at least eight civilians are at this stage confirmed dead.” Jihadists stormed the popular Hayat hotel on Friday night in an exchange of gunfire and explosions with security forces.
The attackers were still entrenched in the hotel early on Saturday, sporadic gunfire and loud explosions were heard in the area. “Security forces rescued dozens of civilians, including children, who were trapped in the building,” Mohamed Abdikadir added.
Somali police spokesman Abdifatah Adan Hassan told reporters that the blast was caused by a suicide bomber.
A claimed terrorist attack
Witnesses said a second explosion took place a few minutes after the first, causing casualties among rescuers, members of the security forces and civilians who rushed to the hotel after the first explosion.
An Islamist group linked to Al-Qaeda, Al-Shabaab, which has been engaged in an insurrection against the Somali federal government for 15 years, has claimed responsibility for the attack. “A group of Al-Shabaab assailants forced their way into the Hayat hotel in Mogadishu, the fighters are firing at random inside the hotel,” the group confirmed in a brief statement on a pro website. -shebab.
Al-Shabaab spokesman Abdiaziz Abu-Musab told their station Radio Andalus on Saturday that his forces still controlled the building and had “inflicted heavy casualties” on the security forces. It is the largest attack in Mogadishu since the election of Somalia’s new president, Hassan Sheikh Mohamoud, in May.