At least ten people were killed on Sunday when gunmen stormed a hotel near the presidential palace in the Somali capital, Mogadishu, in an attack claimed by the extremist group al-Shabab.
The victims included two dual Somali and British nationals, Somali police officer Mohamed Dahir said.
On Sunday, al-Shabab said in a broadcast on its own radio frequency that the fighters attacked the Villa Rose hotel, a restaurant popular with government officials and the security community. That same day, at night, the hotel was still under siege, while a firefight took place between the security forces and the rebels.
Abdi Hassan, a government official who lives near the hotel, told the Associated Press news agency that he believed several colleagues were inside the hotel when the attack began, seeing some jumping over the security perimeter while others were being rescued.
The hotel is not far from the presidential palace, located in the center of Mogadishu, where an explosion followed by gunshots was heard.
These incidents come after the US-backed Somali army increased the pace of operations against the extremist group as part of the “total war” declared by Somali President Hassan Shaykh Mohamud.
The attack came two days after a Somali army operation in the center of the country that killed at least a hundred al-Shabab fighters.
Terror attacks are common in Mogadishu and other parts of this nation located in the Horn of Africa region.
Last month, at least 120 people were killed in two car bombings at a road junction in Mogadishu, an attack for which it did not claim responsibility but blamed it on al-Shabab, which opposes Somalia’s federal government, backed by security forces. African Union peacekeeping.
The United States has described al-Shabab as one of the deadliest organizations in the al-Qaeda terror network, having carried out dozens of airstrikes in recent years against the group.
Source: TSF
