Dhe security forces in Somalia’s capital, Mogadishu, say they ended a deadly attack by the Islamist Al-Shabaab militia on a hotel after around 30 hours. “The security forces have now ended the siege and the attackers are dead,” a senior commander told the AFP news agency on Sunday night.
“There have been no more shots from the building in the last hour,” said the commander, who wished to remain anonymous. He did not provide information on the number of civilian casualties in the attack on the Hayat Hotel or the number of attackers killed.
The hotel was destroyed when the security forces tried to eliminate the fighters entrenched in it with targeted attacks. It must now be examined for explosives that may have been deposited by the attackers, the representative of the security forces explained.
The number of victims had previously been given as at least 19. The head of Mogadishu’s largest emergency clinic, Mohamed Abdirahman Jama, said his facility was treating at least 40 people injured in the attack on the hotel and another attack on Saturday.
The first major act of terrorism since the presidential election
On Saturday night, the Al-Shabaab terrorist group claimed responsibility for the attack on the hotel near Aden Adde International Airport. Two suicide bombers in two vehicles blew themselves up just before the attack. According to the terrorists, they were also responsible for an attack with a mortar shell at the airport. The Somali security authorities confirmed that a mother and her four children were killed.
The attacks mark the first large-scale act of terrorism since Somalia’s newly-elected President Hassan Sheik Mohamud took office in May. The country on the Horn of Africa with around 16 million inhabitants has been rocked by attacks by the terrorist group Al-Shabaab for years. It controls large parts of the south and central regions.
