After several hours of fighting, security forces have ended Islamist extremist attacks on a hotel in the Somali capital of Mogadishu. According to police, two members of the security forces, three civilians and all five were killed. Government spokesman Ismail Mukhtar Omar, according to the news agency dpa, however, said at least eleven dead. At least twelve people were also injured.
The terrorist group Al-Shabaab committed to the attack on the radio station Al-Andalus. Government spokesman Omar confirmed this.
The attack on Somali government members and military-popular hotel "Syl" had begun on Tuesday night and lasted almost six hours. According to Omar, the armed Islamists entrenched themselves in the building, security forces searched the floors for them. About 100 people could therefore be rescued from the hotel.
Third attack on the "Syl" within three years
Eyewitnesses told AFP that the attackers had been dressed in police uniforms. So they could approach the hotel without arousing suspicion. Then they opened fire, using grenades as well. Security forces posted in the immediate vicinity of the presidential palace shot back.
It was al-Shabaab's third attack on the same hotel within three years: in 2016, 29 people died in two attacks. The Sunni fundamentalists were expelled from Mogadishu in August 2011 by African Union (AU) troops. However, it continues to control large rural areas of the East African country and also repeatedly attacks in the capital.