Sunday, August 16, 2020

At least 15 dead as Islamic extremists attack beachside hotel in Somalia

Medical workers and other Somalis help a civilian woman, who was wounded when a powerful car bomb blew off the security gates to the Elite Hotel, as she arrives at a hospital in Mogadishu, Somalia Sunday, Aug. 16, 2020. A Somali police officer says at least 10 people have been killed and more than a dozen others injured in an ongoing siege at the beachside hotel in Somalia's capital where security forces are battling Islamic extremist gunmen who have invaded the building.
At least 15 people were killed at the Elite Hotel (Picture: AP)

Four attackers laid siege to a beachside hotel, killing at least 15 people today.

Somalia’s security forces ended a five-hour siege by killing the Islamic extremists at the Elite Hotel in the capital, Mogadishu, and rescuing dozens of people trapped inside.

The attack started in the afternoon with a powerful car bomb blast which blew off the security gates to the hotel.

Then gunmen ran inside and took hostages, mostly young men and women who were dining there, he said.

Ambulance sirens could be heard in the area, which had a power cut when the attack started.

The hotel is a new establishment popular with Mogadishu’s young people, said Colonel Ahmed Aden, a police officer.

MOGADISHU, SOMALIA - AUGUST 16: A view of the site after a terror attack with a bomb-laden vehicle exploded a hotel on the Lido beach Mogadishu, Somalia on August 16, 2020. At least eight people including Information Ministry official were killed and more than 17 wounded when a car bomb blast targeted the hotel. (Photo by Sadak Mohamed/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
The scene site after a terror attack in Mogadishu (Picture: Getty)
Civilians assist an injured person at Madina hospital after a blast at the Elite Hotel in Lido beach in Mogadishu, Somalia August 16, 2020. REUTERS/Feisal Omar
Civilians assist an injured person at Madina hospital (Picture: Reuters)
MOGADISHU, SOMALIA - AUGUST 16: A view of the site after a terror attack with a bomb-laden vehicle exploded a hotel on the Lido beach Mogadishu, Somalia on August 16, 2020. At least eight people including Information Ministry official were killed and more than 17 wounded when a car bomb blast targeted the hotel. (Photo by Sadak Mohamed/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
At least 15 people were killed (Picture: Getty)

Somalia’s homegrown Islamic extremist rebels, al-Shabab, who are allied to al Qaida, have claimed responsibility for the attack via its radio arm, Andalus.

The hotel attack shattered a period of calm that had lasted for a few months.

Earlier this year Somalia had a spate of bomb attacks.

Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.

For more stories like this, check our news page.



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