Awful ‘At least 10’ dead in militant attack on Mogadishu hotel

At least 10 people, including two lawmakers, were killed in a car bomb and gun attack Wednesday on a top resort in Somalia’s capital Mogadishu maintained by the Al Qaeda-linked Shabaab group, security and medical sources said.

Around 40 others were injured in the assault on the central Ambassador Hotel, where Somali security forces continued to fight Shabaab combatants into the evening, around five hours after the attack began.

The first blast took place at around 5:40 pm (1440 GMT).

The attack was started with a substantial explosion and members in the Mujahedeen fighters stormed the building,” the Shabaab said in a statement.

A witness, Mohamed Elmi, said the blast “ruined the complete area.”

“I saw the dead bodies of seven individuals, most of them burned,” he added.

Another witness, Ibrahim Sheikh Nur, said he saw “several dead bodies outside the hotel.”

“ the entire area is cordoned off and The security forces are actually inside.”