Mogadishu, Oct 29 (AFP) At least 14 people were killed incoordinated car bombings followed by an attack on a hotel inthe Somali capital Mogadishu, claimed by Shabaab Islamists.
Following the blasts yesterday, witnesses reportedhearing gunfire at the Nasa Hablod Hotel 2 which was sealedoff by security forces with gunmen believed to be inside.
"About 14 people, most of them civilians, were confirmeddead so far and the security forces are still working toensure the area is clear," said security official MohamedMoalim Adan.
He said "sporadic gunfire" was continuing with at leasttwo gunmen from the Shabaab Islamist group believed to beinside the hotel. One senior police official and a former MPwere among the dead.
The attack came two weeks after a massive truck bombexploded in central Mogadishu, killing at least 358 people,making it the deadliest attack in the troubled country'shistory.
The Al-Qaeda-affiliated Shabaab claimed yesterday'sbombing and hotel assault in a statement on its Andalus radiostation.
"The Mujahedeen fighters are inside Nasa Hablod 2 hotelwhere... apostate officials are staying," said the briefstatement.
Mogadishu's Aamin ambulance service removed bodies fromthe scene and evacuated 17 wounded, its director AbdukadirAbdurahman said.
Police official Ibrahim Mohamed said the attack startedwhen a car bomb went off at the entrance to the hotel while "aminibus loaded with explosives" was detonated at a nearbyintersection.
Witnesses then reported hearing shooting from inside thehotel.
"We can hear the gunfire but it is difficult to know whois fighting, the forces cordoned off the building and no onecan go close to it," said Abdulahi Nure.
Fellow witness Ismail Muktar said, "We can hear sporadicgunfire and grenade blasts and the area is very dark becausethe electric line was cut off amid the blast.""Most people fled the hotel through a back door but someare still trapped inside," said Mohamed Dek, who was escapedthe hotel after the initial explosion.
"I was very lucky," he added.
The Nasa Hablod 2 is a popular hotel located in the northof the city whose sister hotel, the Nasa Hablod, was hit byShabaab militants in June 2016, in an attack that killed 11people, including a junior minister.
The Shabaab has made attacks on hotels -- commonlybeginning with a suicide car bombing followed by an invasionby gunmen -- a regular strategy in its decade old battle tooverthrow successive internationally-backed governments inMogadishu.
The Shabaab lost their foothold in Mogadishu in 2011 buthave continued their fight, launching regular attacks onmilitary, government and civilian targets in the capital andelsewhere. (AFP)AJR.
This is unedited, unformatted feed from the Press Trust of India wire.
