MOGADISHU (Reuters) – At least 12 people were killed on Friday in an attack followed by a siege by Islamists from the Al Shabaab group at a hotel in the Somali capital Mogadishu, a public services official told Reuters on Saturday. information.
The attackers detonated two car bombs at the entrance to the Hayat hotel, which is very popular with Somali ministers and parliamentarians, before taking control of the establishment.
According to the head of the intelligence services, who only wished to be identified by his first name, Mohamed, the security operation was not completely finished on Saturday morning but the bodies of twelve victims, mainly civilians, were recovered.
Numerous explosions rang out in the night and part of the hotel was destroyed by the fighting, witnesses said.
It is the biggest attack in Mogadishu since the new Somali President, Hassan Sheikh Mohamed, took office in May.
The attack was claimed by Al Shabaab, an Islamist group linked to Al Qaeda that has been fighting the government for more than a decade, according to the jihadist activity monitoring site SITE Intelligence Group.
(Report by Abdi Sheikh, written by Duncan Miriri, French version Tangi Salaün)
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