MOGADISHU: At least five people, including a prominent former general, were killed in an hours-long Al Shabaab attack on a Mogadishu hotel, which ended around midnight on Sunday, Somali police said.
The Al Qaeda-linked jihadists detonated a car bomb at the entrance to the Hotel Afrik at a busy junction near the airport before gunmen stormed the hotel, exchanging fire with security personnel.
Somali police spokesman Sadik Dudishe told a press conference that four attackers had also died.
“Among the dead are five civilians and the gunmen three of them shot and another who detonated himself. The death toll can be higher and some of the wounded people may succumb.” He said 10 people had been injured.
Al-Shabab kills anti-terrorism nemesis in Mogadishu attack
Suicide blast kills five people in hotel assault, including retired general Mohamed Nur Galal, who was former army commander and intelligence chief.
Monday 01/02/2021
People flee from the scene of the suicide blast near the Afrik hotel in Mogadishu, Sunday, Jan. 31, 2021. (AP)
MOGADISHU – At least five people, including a prominent former general, were killed in an hours-long Al-Shabab attack on a Mogadishu hotel, which ended around midnight on Sunday, Somali police said.
The al-Qaeda-linked extremists detonated a car bomb at the entrance to the Hotel Afrik at a busy junction near the airport before gunmen stormed the hotel, exchanging fire with security personnel.