At least 12 killed in Somalia resort siege, hostages held

At least 12 folks have been killed in Somalia’s capital Mogadishu after al Qaeda-linked militants attacked a resort, seizing hostages that authorities have been battling to free almost 20 hours later, an intelligence officer stated on Saturday.

The attackers blasted their approach into the Hayat Hotel on Friday night with two automobile bombs earlier than opening hearth. Somalia’s al Shabaab insurgents have claimed duty.

“So far we have confirmed 12 people, mostly civilians, died,” Mohammed, an intelligence officer who solely gave one identify, informed Reuters.

The gunmen have been holding an unknown variety of hostages on the second flooring of the power, Mohammed stated, stopping authorities from utilizing heavy weapons.

They had additionally bombed out the steps to make it tougher to entry sure flooring, he stated.

The detonations despatched large plumes of smoke over the busy junction on Friday night time, and the sound of gunfire nonetheless crackled throughout the capital by 0700 GMT on Saturday.

Sounds of explosions punctuated the night time as authorities forces tried to wrest management of the resort again from the militants, witnesses stated.

Large sections of the resort have been destroyed by the preventing, they stated.

A basic view exhibits the outside part of the Hotel Hayat in Mogadishu, Somalia (Photo: Reuters)

Friday’s assault was the primary main assault since President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud took workplace in May.

The al Qaeda-linked al Shabaab group claimed duty for the assault, in accordance with a translation by the SITE Intelligence Group, which screens jihadist group statements.

Al Shabaab has been preventing to topple the Somali authorities for greater than 10 years. It needs to determine its personal rule based mostly on a strict interpretation of Islamic regulation.

The Hayat Hotel is a well-liked venue with lawmakers and different authorities officers. There was no quick info on whether or not any of them had been caught up within the siege.

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