Somalia’s security forces on Monday ended a deadly 21 hours long siege by Al Shabab militants who stormed a popular hotel in Mogadishu overnight, the national police spokesman has said, reported The TRT World.
“The clearance operation in the Villa Rose hotel has ended, we will give the details later,” Sadik Dudishe, a spokesman for the Somali national police, told reporters on Monday.
The police spokesman said that at least eight civilians were killed in the siege, one soldier was killed as well as five al-Shabab fighters. He added that 60 people were rescued from the hotel, which is near the presidential palace.
The attack began around 8:00 pm (1700 GMT) on Sunday when the Al-Qaeda-linked insurgents besieged the Villa Rose hotel which is frequented by parliamentarians and other government officials. At least three government ministers were present, including the internal security minister, Mohamed Ahmed Sheik Ali, who was injured after he leaped from a window to escape the assault.
Somalia’s security forces exchanged gunfire with militants holed up in the Villa Rose hotel which is a few blocks away from President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud’s office.
According to witnesses, there were two massive explosions which were followed by gunfire that sent people fleeing the scene in Bondhere district.
Al Shabab, an Al Qaeda affiliated terrorist organization that has been trying to overthrow Somalia’s government for the past 15 years, claimed responsibility for the attack.
The African Union Transition Mission in Somalia (ATMIS), which is a 20,000-strong military force drawn from across the continent, praised the swift security response to the attack in a statement late on Sunday.
Al Shabab has intensified attacks against civilian and military targets as Somalia’s newly-elected government has pursued a policy of “all-out war” against the militants.
Earlier this month, the UN said that at least 613 civilians had been killed and 948 injured in violence this year in Somalia, mostly caused by improvised explosive devices (IEDs) attributed to Al Shabab.
