MOGADISHU (Reuters) - An
Islamist attack on a hotel in Mogadishu ended on Sunday after 29 people were
killed during a siege lasting nearly 12 hours, police said.
The attack proved once again
that insurgents can carry out deadly assaults in the heart of the Somali
capital. Twin bombings in Mogadishu two weeks ago killed more than 350 people,
the worst such attacks in the country's history.
The Islamist militants al
Shabaab claimed responsibility for this weekend's attack. The government responded
by sacking two of the country's top security officials.
"So far I am sure 29 people
died - the death toll may rise," Abdullahi Nur, a police officer, told
Reuters.
At least 12 of the dead were
police officers, Nur said. And a woman, Madobe Nunow, was beheaded while her
"three children were shot dead," he said.
A Reuters witness saw seven
bodies lying inside the hotel.
Three militants were captured
alive and two others blew themselves up after they were shot, police said. Some
militants may have disguised themselves and escaped with the residents who were
rescued from the hotel, one police officer said.
The attack began around at 5
p.m. on Saturday when a car bomb rammed the gates of Nasahablod Two hotel,
which is close to the presidential palace, and destroyed the hotel's defences.
Then gunmen stormed the building.
The explosion destroyed the
front of the three-storey hotel and damaged the hotel next door. Many Somali
officials live in fortified hotels for the security they offer.
The government sacked the
country's police commander, Abdihakin Dahir Saiid, and the director general of
the National Intelligence Security Agency, Abdullahi Mohamed Ali, a statement
from the prime minister's office said.
Abdikadir Abdirahman, director
of Amin ambulances, complained the emergency service had been denied access to
the blast sight.
"After the hotel operation
was over, we wanted to transport the casualties ... all entrances of the scene
were blocked by security forces.
Al Shabaab said 40 people had
been killed, including three of its fighters who stormed the hotel. The
government and al Shabaab typically give different figures for victims in such
attacks.
The twin bombings in Mogadishu
on Oct. 14 killed at least 358 people, the worst such attacks in the country's history,
igniting nationwide outrage. Al Shabaab has not claimed responsibility for that
attack, but the method - a large truck bomb - is one it has often used.
The militant group wants to
overthrow the weak, U.N.-backed government and impose a strict form of Islamic
law.
(Writing by Elias Biryabarema,
Katharine Houreld, Nick Macfie, Larry King)
No comments:
Post a Comment