UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres condemned the attack, according to a spokesman's statement that said the UN supports the people of Somalia 'in their fight against terrorism and their march towards peace'.Īl-Shabaab has been waging a deadly insurgency for 15 years against the fragile government in the Horn of Africa nation. The attack on the hotel is the first major terror incident in Mogadishu since Somalia's new leader, Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, took over in May.
The Islamic extremist group al-Shabab, which has ties with al-Qaida, claimed responsibility for the attack, the latest of its frequent attempts to strike places visited by government officials. (he) is alive, he stayed in the hotel according to the last information we got from his sister,' he told AFP, describing the mood as 'tense'. Said Nurow, who heard the attack unfold, said he was very worried about his friend who was a guest at the property. 'My brother was inside the hotel the last time we heard from him, but his phone is switched off now and we don't know what to expect,' he said. Police have not yet given a detailed explanation of how the attack unfolded, and it remains unclear how many gunmen entered the hotel.īusinessman Muktar Adan, whose brother was inside the hotel when the attack started, told AFP he was waiting for permission to enter the premises and look for his sibling. 'The casualties mostly happened in the early hours of the attack, after that security forces spent time rescuing people individually and room by room,' Hijar said. Police commissioner Abdi Hassan Mohamed Hijar told reporters on Sunday that '106 people including children and women' were rescued by security forces during the siege which ended around midnight.Īs bullets and flames ripped through the hotel, security forces searched the property to bring civilians to safety, including three young children who hid inside a toilet. The hotel building sustained heavy damage during the gunfight between Somali forces and the militants, causing some parts of it to collapse and leaving many people frantic for their loved ones who were inside when the attack began. On Sunday morning, the area surrounding the hotel was quiet and the roads blocked by a heavy security presence as emergency workers and bomb disposal experts sought to clear the premises of any explosives and remove rubble.
It took Somali forces more than 30 hours to contain the gunmen who stormed Mogadishu's Hayat Hotel on Friday evening in an assault that started with loud explosions. Somali authorities have rescued 106 hostages and ended a deadly attack on a hotel in the capital in which at least 20 people were gunned down by Islamic militants.
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