Somalia forces end rebel siege of Mogadishu hotel; 15 killed
Medical workers and other Somalis help a civilian woman, who was wounded when a powerful car bomb blew off the security gates to the Elite Hotel, as she arrives at a hospital in Mogadishu, Somalia Sunday, Aug. 16, 2020. A Somali police officer says at least 10 people have been killed and more than a dozen others injured in an ongoing siege at the beachside hotel in Somalia’s capital where security forces are battling Islamic extremist gunmen who have invaded the building. (AP Photo/Farah Abdi Warsameh)
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MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) — Somalia’s security forces on Sunday ended a nearly five-hour siege by Islamic extremists at a beachside hotel in Somalia’s capital, said police and a government spokesman.
At least 15 people were killed when the attackers invaded the Elite Hotel, a new establishment popular with Mogadishu’s young people, said Col. Ahmed Aden, a police officer.
Security forces later killed all four attackers and rescued dozens of people who were trapped inside the hotel, Ismail Mukhtar, spokesman of Somalia’s information ministry told The Associated Press.
The attack started in the afternoon with a powerful car bomb blast which blew off the security gates to the hotel. Then gunmen ran inside and took hostages, mostly young men and women who were dining there, he said.
Ambulance sirens could be heard in the area which had a power outage when the attack started.
Somalia’s homegrown Islamic extremist rebels, al-Shabab, who are allied to al-Qaida, have claimed responsibility for the attack via its radio arm, Andalus.
The hotel attack shattered a period of calm that had lasted for a few months. Earlier this year Somalia had a spate of bomb attacks.
