At least nine people have been killed and more than a dozen injured in a gun and bomb attack by suspected al-Shabab fighters at an upmarket beachfront hotel in the Somali capital, officials and witnesses said.
Security forces struggled to regain control of the Elite Hotel in the Lido beach area more than an hour after the attack began on Sunday, thanks to fears the attackers had taken hostages.
Among the dead are two government employees, three hotel security guards and four civilians, police officer Ahmed Bashane told the DPA news agency.
Military cars could be seen taking positions around the hotel at night, with concerned officials, the darkness could prolong the siege.
Captain Mohamed Hussein told The Associated Press that the attack began with a powerful car bomb that blew the security gates to the Elite Hotel. Then gunmen ran inside and took hostages, mostly young men and women serving in the hotel, he said.
An ambulance rides from the scene of an explosion at the Elite Hotel in Lido beach in Mogadishu [Feisal Omar/Reuters]
Security forces rescued more than 10 people from the siege and tried to prevent the attackers from moving to the top floor, he said.
Ambulance sirens could be heard in the area that since the attack began a power outage.
Two attackers have been killed so far
Security forces have so far killed two of the attackers at the hotel amid fears of hostage crisis in the complex, said Ismail Mukhtar, a spokesman for Somalia’s information minister.
Aamin Ambulance, a Mogadishu-based private service, reported that at least 28 people were injured.
Witnesses confirmed the attack began with a heavy explosion and reported that people fled the area because a ceasefire could be heard from the hotel, which is being visited by government officials.
“The blast was very heavy and I could see smoke in the area. There is chaos and people are fleeing nearby buildings,” said witness Ali Sayid Adan.
There was no direct claim of responsibility for the attack, but it was similar to others carried out by the al-Shabab group, which is affiliated with al-Qaeda.
Somalia plunged into chaos following the 1991 coup overthrowing then-president Siad Barre’s military regime, which led to years of clan warfare followed by the rise of al-Shabab, which once controlled large parts of the country and Mogadishu.
Al-Shabab was expelled from the capital in 2011, but its fighters continue to wage war against the government, by conducting regular attacks.
Last week, four al-Shabab fighters held in Mogadishu’s central prison were killed in a security shootout after they were reported to have gotten their hands on weapons in the facility.
Emergency vehicles are seen at an enclosed area near the site of an explosion at the Elite Hotel in Lido beach in Mogadishu [Feisal Omar/Reuters]
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