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Islamic militiamen stormed a hotel in Somalia’s capital, engaging in an hour-long fire fight with security forces that resulted in the deaths of at least 20 people, according to police and witnesses.
Additionally, at least 40 people were injured in Friday’s late night attack and security forces rescued many more people, including children, from the scene at Mogadishu’s famous Hayat Hotel, they said Saturday.
The attack began with explosions outside the hotel before gunmen entered the building.
Somali forces were still trying to end the siege of the hotel nearly 24 hours after the attack began. Shots were still heard Saturday night as security forces tried to contain the last of the gunmen thought to be holed up on the top floor of the hotel.
A soldier patrols outside the Hayat Hotel in Mogadishu, Somalia on Saturday, August 20, 2022.
(Photo AP / Farah Abdi Warsameh)
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The Islamic extremist group al-Shabab, which has ties to al-Qaeda, claimed responsibility for the attack, the latest of its frequent strike attempts in places visited by government officials. The attack on the hotel is the first major terrorist incident in Mogadishu since Somalia’s new leader, Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, took over in May.
In a Twitter post, the US embassy in Somalia said it “strongly condemns” the attack on Hayat.
“We express our condolences to the families of loved ones killed, wish full recovery to the wounded and pledge to continue to support Somalia to hold the killers accountable and build when others destroy,” he said.
There was no immediate news on the identity of the victims, but many are believed to be civilians.
Soldiers patrol outside the Hayat Hotel in Mogadishu, Somalia on Saturday, August 20, 2022.
(Photo AP / Farah Abdi Warsameh)
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Mohamed Abdirahman, director of Mogadishu’s Madina hospital, told the AP that 40 people were hospitalized there with injuries or injuries from the attack. While nine have been sent home after being treated, five are in critical condition in intensive care, he said.
“We were having tea near the hotel lobby when we heard the first explosion, followed by gunshots. I immediately rushed to the ground floor hotel rooms and locked the door,” a witness told the phone. Abdullahi Hussein. “The militants went straight upstairs and started shooting. I was inside the room until the security forces came and saved me.”
He said that on the journey to safety he saw “several bodies lying on the ground outside the hotel reception”.
Al-Shabab remains the deadliest Islamic extremist group in Africa.
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The group has conquered even more territory in recent years, taking advantage of the rifts between Somali security personnel and the disagreements between the Mogadishu government headquarters and regional states. It remains the greatest threat to political stability in the unstable nation of the Horn of Africa.
Forced to withdraw from Mogadishu in 2011, al-Shabab is slowly returning from the rural areas it retreated to, defying the presence of the AU peacekeepers and US drone strikes on its fighters.
The militants in early May attacked a military base for the AU peacekeepers outside Mogadishu, killing many Burundian troops. The attack took place a few days before the presidential vote which brought Mohamud back to power five years after he was excluded.
