Mogadishu: Somalia’s Shabaab insurgents said they carried out an attack on Friday on a hotel in the capital Mogadishu with government ministers reportedly inside, killing or wounding dozens of people.
Prime Minister Omar Abdirashid Ali Sharmarke’s statement said an Islamic extremist rammed an explosives-laden vehicle into the gate of the Central Hotel, and another went in and blew himself up.
Government officials were meeting at the hotel at the time, and the statement says Mogadishu’s deputy mayor and two legislators are among the dead.
It is unclear whether the 25 dead included the two bombers.
The responsibility of attack had been taken by Al Qaida-linked al-Shabab militants.
President of Somalia Hassan Sheikh Mohamud condemned the attack and said it would not derail efforts by his government to restore peace to Somalia which is recovering from decades of war.
This is the second attack on a hotel in Mogadishu in less than a month.
Bureau Report
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