A man raises his hands as he runs from the scene of a suicide bomb attack outside Nasahablood hotel in Somalia’s capital Mogadishu, June 25, 2016.
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“We attacked the hotel which was frequented by the apostate government members”, al Shabaab military operations spokesperson Sheikh Abdiasis Abu Musab told Reuters, adding that the group’s fighters were inside the building. Both attacks have been claimed by Al Shabab.
A auto bomb was detonated at the gate ahead of the attack.
A gun battle then erupted between the attackers and security forces.
Deceased include security guards, civilians and attackers.
The UN envoy in Somalia described Environment Minister Buri Mohamed Hamza as “passionate advocate”.
The African Union force faces shrinking resources after the European Union recently cut its funding to the AU mission in Somalia by 20 percent.
Most of those killed and injured were civilians who were passersby and customers of nearby shops and a petrol station, police said.
The gunmen shot their way into the heavily guarded Nasa-Hablod hotel after exploding a vehicle bomb.
An ambulance driver called Yusuf Ali said he evacuated 11 wounded people to hospitals and that a lot of them had been injured in crossfire, according to The Associated Press.
The attack also comes during the holy month of Ramadan, when Muslims are observing a month-long fast. The Al-Shabaab have used this MO during previous attacks.
Saturday’s attack came just three weeks after another assault quickly claimed the Shabaab group on the city’s Ambassador hotel left 10 dead including two lawmakers when a huge auto bomb ripped the front off the six-storey building. Somali security forces cordoned off access to the neighbourhood in which the hotel is located.
A security official, who asked not to be named, told DPA news agency that they believed three to four militants were involved in the attack.
“The first explosion hit the entrance of the hotel and gunmen entered the hotel”. “They were shooting at everyone they could see”, he said.
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