Mogadishu (Agencies): Somali security forces have ended a night-long siege by at a Mogadishu hotel by five extremists who stormed the building after a suicide car bomber detonated an explosives-laden vehicle at the entrance gate, killing 29 people.
Troops regained control of the Nasa-Hablod hotel on Sunday morning, having killed three attackers and captured two alive, said Captain Mohamed Hussein.
Al-Shabab, Africa’s deadliest Islamic extremist group, quickly claimed responsibility for Saturday’s outrage, two weeks after more than 350 people were killed by a massive truck bomb in a busy Mogadishu street in Somalia’s worst attack.
The assault started on Saturday afternoon when a suicide truck bomb exploded outside the popular hotel in the capital.
The blast twisted vehicles and caused massive damage to nearby buildings which were left with only their walls standing.
The attackers invaded the hotel and gunfire continued as security forces fought them inside the building. Two more blasts were heard, one when an attacker detonated a suicide vest.
Minister of electricity and water Salim Aliyow Ibrow was rescued from the hotel as heavy gunfire continued in the shoot-out. Some extremists hurled grenades and cut off the building’s electricity as night fell.
