Somalia: 4 al-Shabaab militants attack hotel in Mogadishu killing at least 22 people
Suicide attackers set off two car bombs at a hotel in Mogadishu on Friday, killing at least 22 people, police said.
The militant Islamist group al-Shabaab, linked to al-Qaeda, claimed responsibility for the attack on the Hotel Sahafi, which is near the headquarters of Somalia’s Criminal Investigations Department (CID).
Hotel guards and CID officers opened fire after the blasts, police added. Then, about 20 minutes later, a third explosion from a bomb placed in a three-wheeled “tuk-tuk” vehicle near the hotel hit the busy street, witnesses said.
“Four militants who attempted to enter the hotel were shot dead by our police and the hotel guards,” police captain Mohamed Ahmed told Reuters.