17 killed as Islamist terrorists attack beach hotel

 

No fewer than 17 people, including five attackers were killed when Islamist terrorists stormed a popular beach hotel in Somalia’s capital Mogadishu, officials said on Sunday.

The attack ended after a three-hour, fierce gun battle between fighters of Islamist terrorist group al-Shabaab and security forces which began with a suicide car bombing, government spokesman Ismael Mukhtar Omar told dpa.

Among the 12 victims were two government employees, three hotel security guards, four civilians and three unidentified people, police officer Ahmed Bashane told dpa.

Most guests of the four-storey seaside hotel could be rescued, but 28 wounded people were taken to hospitals.

The terrorists began the attack with a powerful suicide car bomb at the gate to the hotel, after which they stormed the Elite Hotel, situated on the capital’s Lido beach, and laid siege to it.

An intense gun battle ensued between the attackers, hotel guards, and security forces, the police officer added.

Somali President Mohamed Abdullahi Farmajo strongly condemned the attack, which was later claimed by terrorist group al-Shabaab.

“The terrorists want to create despair in our society… Such evil acts will not deter us from moving our country forward,” Farmajo said in a statement.

Al-Shabaab is affiliated with the international al-Qaeda terrorist network, and launches regular attacks within the volatile East African nation.