MOGADISHU – 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.
Security Forces walk past the scene of the deadly hotel truck bomb blast in Mogadishu, Somalia. Credit: Reuters/Feisal Omar
The attack proved once again that insurgents can carry out deadly assaults in the heart of the Somali capital. Two weeks ago, twin bombings in Mogadishu killed more than 350 people and 50 are still missing in the worst such attacks in the country’s history.
The Islamist militants al Shabaab claimed responsibility for the 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 the strategy.
Somalia’s Islamic terrorist group, al-Shabab, has been waging a protracted insurgency against U.S-backed government. Credit: AP Photo/Mohamed Sheikh Nor, File
“So far I am sure 29 people died – the death toll may rise,” said one local Police Officer.
Among the dead were 12 Police Officers and a woman was beheaded while her 3 children were shot dead, said a local Police Officer who was on the scene. Another witness confirmed seeing seven bodies lying inside the hotel.
Al-Qaeda-linked al-Shabaab claimed responsibility for the deadly truck bomb attack at a hotel in Mogadishu, Somalia on Saturday. Credit: Reuters/Feisal Omar
According to local security officials, 3 Islamist militants were captured alive and 2 others two blew themselves up after they were shot. Some militants are believed to 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 hote located close to the Presidential Palace, destroying the hotel’s defenses. It was then that armed stormed the building.
Emergency workers at the scene of the deadly truck bomb blast in Mogadishu, Somalia. Credit: Reuters/Feisal Omar
The explosion destroyed the front of the three-storey hotel and damaged the hotel next door. Many Somali officials live in fortified hotels for the security they offer.
The attack presents a further challenge to the new government of President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed, whose Defense Minister and Chief of Army staff resigned this month. They did not give their reasons for leaving.
On Sunday, the government sacked the country’s Police Commander together with the Director General of the National Intelligence Security Agency.
Al Shabaab said 40 people had been killed, including three of its fighters who stormed the hotel. The government and al Shabaab typically give different figures for victims in such attacks.
People running away from Somalia’s deadliest bomb blast in Mogadishu on Saturday, 14 October 2017. Credit: Reuters
The twin bombings in Mogadishu on Oct. 14 killed at least 358 people and ignited nationwide outrage. Although the al-Qaeda-linked al Shabaab has denied any involvement with the 14 October deadly attacks, the method used – a large truck bomb – is the Islamist group’s signature hallmark.
The militant group wants to overthrow the weak, U.N-backed government and impose a strict form of Islamic law.
A Reuters Report. Further editing by Manyika Review.
