Security Forces defeat Al-Qaeda militants

Eight civilians killed as hours-long Somalia hotel siege ends in Mogadishu

Somali security forces on Monday ended an hours-long siege by Al-Qaeda-linked insurgents who killed eight civilians after storming a prominent hotel in the capital Mogadishu, the police said.

Al-Shabaab militants attacked the Villa Rose, a hotel popular with politicians and government officials, in a hail of bullets and explosions at around 8 pm (1700 GMT) on Sunday.

Around 21 hours later, national police spokesperson Sadik Dudishe told reporters that “the clearance operation in the

Villa Rose hotel has ended.”

The jihadists “killed eight civilians who stayed in the hotel and the security forces succeeded in rescuing about 60 civilians, no one among the civilians was wounded,” he added.

One member of the security forces also died in the attack, he said.

“There were about six attackers involved – five of them were shot and killed by the security forces and one of them detonated himself.”

The authorities have given no details about the identities of the casualties.

The heavily guarded Villa Rose is located in a fortified area of the capital a few blocks from the office of President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud.

Its website describes the hotel as the “most secure lodging arrangement in Mogadishu” with metal detectors and a high perimeter wall.

Al-Shabaab, which has been trying to overthrow Somalia’s central government for 15 years, claimed responsibility for the attack.

In a statement late on Sunday, the African Union Transition Mission in Somalia (ATMIS), a 20,000-strong military force drawn from across the continent, praised the “swift” security response to the deadly assault.

It was the deadliest attack in the fragile Horn of Africa nation in five years.

At least 21 people were killed in a siege of a Mogadishu hotel in August that lasted 30 hours before security forces were able to overpower the militants inside.

The latest hotel siege has raised questions as to how the militants managed to reach the closely guarded heart of Mogadishu’s administrative district undetected.

Armed checkpoints block roads into the area, which also hosts a detention facility for high-value terror suspects overseen by the National Intelligence and Security Agency.

It was the deadliest attack in the fragile Horn of Africa nation in five years.