At least 14 dead in Mogadishu hotel attack: police
26.02.2016 21:11 International SigmaLive
e were killed Friday in an attack in the heart of the Somali capital Mogadishu that was claimed by Islamist Al Shabaab militants, a police official said.
"One of the blasts took place near the Peace Gardens (park) and the other near the SYL hotel.
“I saw 12 dead civilians, but the toll may well be higher," Ibrahim Mohamed told AFP at the time.
Soon after AP reported that five militants and at least nine civilians were killed. Police Captain Mohamed Hussein told the news agency that "four gunmen and the suicide bomber were killed," adding that "the attackers did not get past the last security checkpoint."
In addition, he says at least nine bodies of civilians could be seen outside the hotel.
Reuters reported that Al Shabaab fighters claimed to have set off a car bomb and stormed the hotel.
Sources told Al Jazeera the explosion on Friday went off at the entrance of the Somali Youth League Hotel. This was followed by heavy exchange of gunfire between the hotel's security staff and the suspected gunmen.
The hotel, which was targeted by Al Shabaab in January 2015, is next to a public garden which would have been busy with families enjoying their weekend.
"We started with a car bomb and then stormed the hotel. We are inside it and fighting continues," Al Shabaab’s military operations spokesman, Sheikh Abdiasis Abu Musab, told Reuters.
The attack comes a day after Al Shabaab fired mortars at the presidential palace in Mogadishu, killing at least three people and wounding nine, according to health officials.
Source: AFP, Al Jazeera, Reuters, AP
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