Militants from the al Shabab Islamist militant group stormed a hotel in the coastal Somali city of Kismayo on Friday evening.
A suicide bomber rammed an explosives-laden car into the Asasey hotel, a popular meeting spot for regional officials and visitors from the diaspora, in the port of Kismayo, and gunmen then stormed the building.
The death toll from the hotel attack rose to 26 on Saturday with victims including Kenyans, Americans, a Briton, a Canadian and Tanzanians, reported Al Jazeera. More than 50 people were also wounded.
Ahmed Mohamed, the president of the autonomous Jubaland region, confirmed that a presidential candidate for the upcoming regional elections was among the ones killed. Hodan Nalayeh, a prominent Somali-Canadian journalist and YouTube star got critically wounded in the attack and died at the hospital of her injuries. Her husband Farid was also killed in the attack.
The security forces ended the overnight attack on Saturday morning killing the four attackers.
“The operation is over,” police officer Major Mohamed Abdi told Reuters. “So far we know 13 people died. Many people have been rescued. The four attackers were shot dead.”
Terror group Al Shabaab claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement published on an affiliated website. The militant group said it targeted Jubbaland state ministers, regional and federal lawmakers, as well as candidates in the hotel.
Somalia’s Prime Minister, Hassan Ali Khayre, condemned the attack in a statement Friday and sent condolences to the relatives of the victims.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres also condemned the attack in a statement expressing “the support and solidarity of the United Nations with the people of Somalia in their pursuit of a peaceful future.”
Al Shabaab was driven out from Mogadishu in 2011 and has since been driven from most of its other strongholds. It was forced to exit Kismayu in 2012.
