MOGADISHU The death toll from Tuesday’s auto bomb attack targeting two hotels popular with officials near the presidential palace in the Somali capital Mogadishu has risen to 22, police said on Wednesday.
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The January 2015 attack killed at least five people when a suicide vehicle bomber rammed the hotel gates on the eve of a visit by Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
The Al-Qaeda aligned Shabaab jihadist group said it was responsible for the attack, saying the SYL hotel was targeted because it “is close to the presidential palace, and also home to apostates and unbelievers”. The blast partially destroyed two hotels, including one in which a meeting of security officials was underway, the government has said. We believe the target was SYL which is frequented by officials.
The bomb exploded during a morning traffic jam, said Capt. Mohamed Hussein, a senior police officer. A witness described seeing a large blast and a thick plume of smoke that rose high into the air.
Al Shabaab’s Radio Andaluz said the Islamist group was behind the attack and their military operations spokesman Sheikh Abdiasis Abu Musab said the attack had killed 15 soldiers and “injured many others including a lawmaker”.
Al-Shabaab militants have carried out several attacks in Somalia and neighboring Kenya, killing hundreds of innocent people.
The militants were pushed out of Mogadishu by the African Union peace keeping force AMISOM in 2011 but have remained a serious threat, launching frequent attacks aimed at overthrowing the government.
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Military officer Major Bile Farah said a soldier and two al Shabaab fighters were killed in the attack in K-50 and Muri in Lower Shabelle region.
