“This is the biggest explosion I’ve ever seen in my life”, Mohamed Ali, a policeman, said near the Ambassador Hotel.
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A huge vehicle bomb that tore off the front of the six-story Ambassador Hotel in the heart of the capital signaled the start of the assault on Wednesday evening, with shooting continuing until Thursday morning when Somalia’s security minister declared the attack over.
Several gunmen stormed into the hotel after the blast and started shooting indiscriminately, according to Dalnar Hassan, a witness who was also bleeding profusely from the shoulder.
Gunfire dies down inside building, a day after deaths of at least 16 people, including two MPs, in coordinated attack.
Also on Wednesday, Somali special forces claimed to have killed Mohamed Mohamud Ali – also known as Dulyadin and Kuno – the suspected organiser of an attack on a university in Garissa, Kenya, in April 2015 that killed 148 people, a lot of them students. Somalia’s Islamic extremist rebels, al-Shabab, stormed the hotel, often freq.
“National security forces are in every floor, the last fighter on the top roof (was) shot”, Ali told Reuters.
The building was extensively damaged during the attack and government forces had blocked off all the main roads near the scene.
The Somali militant group al-Shabab has claimed responsibility for the attack, saying it targeted the hotel because it is used by Somali government officials.
Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond, who was visiting Somalia, sad the extremist organisation “cannot be allowed to take hold” in the east African country.
Security Minister Abdirizak Omar Mohamed confirmed more than 10 people were killed by the al-Shabab fighters.
Al-Shabab was pushed out of Mogadishu by the African Union peacekeeping force AMISOM in 2011.
The siege began when attackers detonated a auto packed with explosives at the gates of the building, Hajji said.
In another assault, Somali forces attacked an al-Shabaab stronghold in Bulo Gadud, a village 30 kilometers (19 miles) out of Kismayo, in Shabelle region, on Monday night. Four militants, including senior leaders, were killed and their bodies paraded around the coastal town, Mohamed Aden, an army officer, said by phone.
Early Thursday, SONNA reported Somali special forces had finished an operation to retake the hotel, discovering dead bodies as they swept the premises.
In January, an attack on a beach-front restaurant killed at least 17 people. He said Da’ud was “presumed killed”.
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The Pentagon on Wednesday announced that a US drone strike on Friday had targeted a senior military commander of al-Shabab in Somalia, Abdullahi Haji Da’ud.
