MOGADISHU, Somalia
Eight people were killed after militants stormed a hotel in Somalia’s port city of Kismayo, an attack that started with a suicide bombing Sunday before gunmen forcibly entered and exchanged fire with security forces.
The Islamic extremist group
al-Shabab claimed responsibility for the attack, saying its fighters had
penetrated the Tawakal Hotel.
Security forces from the
southern Somali state of Jubaland later ended the siege, killing the gunmen and
rescuing scores of people, state media reported.
There was no official word on
casualties, but a doctor at Kismayo Hospital told The Associated Press of eight
dead people, four of whom were security personnel.
At least 41 people were
wounded in the attack, the doctor said, speaking on the condition of anonymity
because he was not authorized to divulge such information.
Journalists were prevented
from getting close to the scene of the attack. Footage shared on social media
showed ambulances collecting the wounded from outside the hotel in central
Kismayo.
The city is located about 500
kilometers (310 miles) from the Somali capital, Mogadishu.
The attack began when a car
driven by a suicide bomber rammed the entrance gate of the hotel and then
exploded, police officer Abshir Omar said by phone. A number of small
businesses along the street were destroyed.
Some government officials and
traditional elders were eating lunch in the hotel at the time of the explosion,
he said.
Mohamed Nasi Guled, a senior
police official in Jubaland, said three attackers entered the hotel’s premises.
The hotel is popular as a
meeting place for government officials. Al-Shabab is believed to have a strong
presence in the areas surrounding Kismayo, the largest city and commercial
capital of Jubaland.
Al-Shabab, which has ties with
al-Qaida, regularly carries out attacks in the Horn of Africa nation. Many of
the group’s attacks target popular hotels.
Al-Shabab opposes the
Mogadishu-based federal government, which it perceives as a puppet of foreign
governments. The group also opposes the presence of foreign troops in Somalia.
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