Eight civilians dead as Somalia hotel siege ends

Mogadishu, Somalia - Somali security forces have ended an hours-long siege by Al-shabaab militants who stormed a popular hotel in the capital Mogadishu overnight, killing eight civilians, the national police spokesman said on Monday.

The attack by the Al-qaedalinked insurgents began around 8pm (1700 GMT) on Sunday in a hail of gunfire and explosions, as they besieged the Villa Rose hotel which is frequented by parliamentarians and other government officials.

Around 21 hours after the attack started, Sadik Dudishe, a spokesman for the national police, told reporters ‘the clearance operation in the Villa Rose hotel has ended’.

The militants ‘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 operation, he said.

The Villa Rose is located in a ‘secure’ central part of the capital just a few blocks from the office of Somalia's President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, raising questions about how the militants were able to evade the numerous checkpoints in the area. Al-shabaab, which has been trying to overthrow Somalia's central government for 15 years, claimed responsibility for the attack.

The group has intensified attacks against civilian and military targets as Somalia's recently elected government has pursued a policy of ‘all-out war’ against the Islamists.

Earlier, on Monday morning, witnesses near the scene described loud explosions and gunfire.

“I saw several military vehicles with special forces heading towards the hotel, and a few minutes later there was heavy gunfire and explosions,” said witness Mahad Yare.

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 attack.

The Villa Rose website describes the hotel as the ‘most secure lodging arrangement in Mogadishu’ with metal detectors and a high perimeter wall.

On October 29, two cars packed with explosives blew up minutes apart in Mogadishu followed by gunfire, killing at least 121 people and wounding 333 others.

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

Closely guarded zone

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.

Somalia’s environment minister, Adam Aw Hirsi, who lives in the Villa Rose, said the attack was not a demonstration of an ‘emboldened’ Al-shabaab.

“To the contrary, the desperate move shows that the terror kingpins running for dear life are throwing their last kicks. We’ll not let up the war,” he posted on Twitter.

The attack by the Al-qaeda-linked insurgents Al-shabaab began around 8pm (1700 GMT) on Sunday in a hail of gunfire and explosions, as they besieged the Villa Rose hotel