At least 29 dead after prolonged Islamist attack on Mogadishu hotel
MOGADISHU (Reuters) – An Islamist attack on a hotel in Mogadishu ended on Sunday after 29 people were killed during a siege lasting nearly 12 hours, police said, prompting the government to sack two top security officials over their failure to stop repeated attacks.
The assault proved once again that insurgents can carry out deadly strikes in the heart of the Somali capital. Twin bombings in Mogadishu two weeks ago killed more than 350 people, the worst such attacks in the country’s history; more than 50 people are still missing. The Islamist terrorist group al Shabaab claimed responsibility for this weekend’s attack, which took place ahead of a planned meeting to try to defuse tensions between the federal government and regional states. Government officials had begun to meet at the hotel to discuss strategy.
“So far I am sure 29 people died; the death toll may rise,” police officer Abdullahi Nur told Reuters.
At least 12 of the dead were police officers, Nur said. A woman was beheaded while her “three children were shot dead,” he said.
A Reuters witness saw seven bodies lying inside the hotel.
Three militants were captured alive and two others blew themselves up after they were shot, police said. Some of the attackers may have disguised themselves and escaped with the residents who were rescued from the hotel, one police officer said.
The attack began at around 5 p.m. on Saturday when a car bomb rammed the gates of the Nasahablod Two hotel, which is close to the presidential palace, destroying the hotel’s defenses. Gunmen then 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 because of the security they offer.
The attack presents a further challenge to the new government of President Muhammad Abdullahi Muhammad, whose defense minister and chief-of-army staff resigned this month. They did not give their reasons for leaving.
On Sunday, the prime minister’s office announced that the government had sacked the country’s police commander, Abdihakin Dahir Saiid, as well as the director general of the National Intelligence Security Agency, Abdullahi Muhammad Ali.
Abdikadir Abdirahman, director of Amin ambulances, complained that 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 to the scene were blocked by security forces,” he said.
Al Shabaab said 40 people had been killed, including three of its fighters who stormed the hotel. The government and the jihadist group typically give different figures for victims in such attacks.
The twin bombings in Mogadishu on October 14 killed at least 358 people and ignited nationwide outrage. Al Shabaab has not claimed responsibility for that attack, but the method, a large truck bomb, is one that the terrorist group has often used.
The jihadist Al Shabaab wants to overthrow the weak, UN-backed government and impose a strict form of Islamic law.