MOGADISHU, Nov 28 (NNN-XINHUA/AGENCIES) — Al-Shabaab militants launched an attack on the heavily fortified Villa Rosa Hotel in Somalia’s capital Mogadishu on Sunday, police said. Casualties remained unknown.
A huge bomb exploded at the busy hotel, which is frequently used by government officials, local police and witnesses said.
“The forces rescued government officials and members of the public who were trapped in the building,” Sadiq Dudishe, spokesperson of the Somali Police Force, told the Somali National News Agency without disclosing the number of casualties.
The police operation was underway to end the siege at the hotel, Dudishe added.
Witnesses said the extremist group set off the explosion at the gate of the hotel near the presidential palace.
“The government forces arrived at the scene to rescue the people and are still fighting the militants inside the hotel. We can hear gunshots from the hotel,” a resident who declined to be named told Xinhua on the phone.
Al-Shabaab militants, who have been fighting to topple the government for more than a decade, claimed responsibility for the bombing, saying they targeted a gathering of officials at the hotel.
The African Union Transition Mission in Somalia strongly condemned the attack and expressed solidarity with the government and people of Somalia, saying it “applauds Somali security forces for the swift response to prevent further casualties and property damage.”
The Shabaab said in a broadcast on its own radio frequency Sunday that said its fighters attacked the hotel Villa Rose, which has a restaurant popular with government and security officials.
Such militant attacks are common in Mogadishu and other parts of the Horn of Africa nation.
The latest attack comes amid a new, high-profile offensive by the Somali government against the Shabaab, which still controls large parts of central and southern Somalia.
Extremist fighters loyal to the group have responded by killing prominent clan leaders in an apparent effort to dissuade support for the government offensive, and attacks on public places frequented by government officials and others persist.
Hotels and restaurants are frequently targeted, as are military bases for government troops and foreign peacekeepers.
Last month at least 120 people were killed in two car bombings at a busy junction in Mogadishu. The Shabaab, which doesn’t usually claim responsibility when its assaults result in a high civilian death toll, carried out that attack, the deadliest since a similar attack at the same spot killed more than 500 five years ago.
The Shabaab opposes Somalia’s federal government, which is backed by African Union peacekeepers, and seeks to take power and enforce a strict version of sharia law. — NNN-XINHUA/AGENCIES
