Somali hotel attack ends, leaves dozens dead
An attack on a hotel in Mogadishu ended on Sunday after 29 people were killed during a siege lasting nearly 12 hours, police said. The attack proved once again that terrorists can carry out deadly assaults in the heart of the Somali capital, Reuters wrote.
Twin bombings in Mogadishu two weeks ago killed more than 350 people, the worst such attacks in the country’s history.
The Al-shabab terror group claimed responsibility for this weekend’s attack. The government responded by sacking two of the country’s top security officials.
“So far I am sure 29 people died — the death toll may rise,” Abdullahi Nur, a police officer, said.
At least 12 of the dead were police officers, Nur said. And a woman, Madobe Nunow, was beheaded while her “three children were shot dead,” he said.
Three terrorists were captured alive and two others blew themselves up after they were shot, police said. Some terrorists may have disguised themselves and escaped with the residents who were rescued from the hotel, one police officer said.
The attack began around at 5 p.m. on Saturday when a car bomb rammed the gates of Nasahablod Two hotel, which is close to the presidential palace, and destroyed the hotel’s defenses. Then gunmen stormed the building.
The explosion destroyed the front of the three-story hotel and damaged the hotel next door. Many Somali officials live in fortified hotels for the security they offer.
The government sacked the country’s police commander, Abdihakin Dahir Saiid, and the director general of the National Intelligence Security Agency, Abdullahi Mohamed Ali, a statement from the prime minister’s office said.
Abdikadir Abdirahman, director of Amin ambulances, complained the emergency service had been denied access to the blast sight.
“After the hotel operation was over, we wanted to transport the casualties ... all entrances of the scene were blocked by security forces.”
Al-shabab said 40 people had been killed, including three of its terrorists who stormed the hotel. The government and Al-shabab typically give different figures for victims in such attacks.
The twin bombings in Mogadishu on October 14 killed at least 358 people, the worst such attacks in the country’s history, igniting nationwide outrage. Al-shabab has not claimed responsibility for that attack, but the method — a large truck bomb — is one it has often used.