Suspected Al-Shabaab gunmen stormed the Ambassador Hotel in Mogadishu, Somalia, Wednesday, police said.
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Officials said a suicide auto bomber crashed into a gate outside a popular hotel in the Somali capital, with at least 15 people killed in the blast and the ensuing gunfight.
Police later said there were 10 people killed and the toll was likely to rise further.
Abdirashid Hassan Abdinur, Minister of security for Jubbaland State said the three were killed during a security operation in Bulo-Gadud location, some 30 km north of the coast town of Kismayo, the administrative capital of Jubbaland state in Somalia. In January, they had attacked a beach-front hotel, killing 17 people.
Residents and a Reuters reporter at the scene of the attack said they could still hear sporadic gunfire.
“We have reports that he was killed in an airstrike by special security forces”.
There is a small American military presence in Somalia to advise and assist that country’s new military and African Union in Somalia forces (AMISOM) targeting the terror group al-Shabaab that once ruled the country.
The assault came just hours after officials reported an assault elsewhere in Somalia killed the militant commander responsible for last year’s massacre at Garissa University College in Kenya.
Earlier on Wednesday, the government announced it had killed Mohamed Kuno, the al-Shabab militant who led the attack on Garissa University in Kenya in April 2015 that killed 148 people.
“We targeted the members of the apostate government …” Omar did not say when he was killed or give any other details.
However, it has remained a constant threat in Somalia, launching frequent attacks aimed at overthrowing the government.
“All the gunmen were killed by the security forces”, the AFP news agency quoted him as saying.
The group, which is seeking an Islamist state in Somalia and is affiliated with the worldwide al-Qaeda terrorist network, has attacked government facilities and hotels in Mogadishu on a regular basis.
Smoke rose from burning cars and debris was strewn across Maka al-Mukarama, the capital’s usually busy main street.
“The removal from the terrorist network of this experienced al-Shabaab commander with extensive operational experience will disrupt near-term attack planning, potentially saving many innocent lives”, Cook said.
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Da’ud was “principal coordinator” and intelligence chief for attacks in Somalia, Kenya and Uganda, Cook said.
