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Somali forces end al-Shabaab’s overnight attack on hotel which claimed 13 lives

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Somali forces end al-Shabaab’s overnight attack on hotel which claimed 13 lives

An overnight attack on a hotel in the southern port city of Kismayu by the dreaded al-Shabaab which claimed no less than 13 victims has been put to an end by Somali forces.

Report say the attack saw a suicide car bomber and gunmen launch an attack on the hotel where a political gathering was taking place in port city of Kismayo on Friday night.

Authorities said a suicide bomber rammed a vehicle loaded with explosives into the popular Medina hotel, which was followed by a gun battle leaving politicians and journalists among the dead.

According to Somali forces, the stand off with the militants ended on Saturday morning; “The operation is over,” police officer Major Mohamed Abdi told Reuters news agency by telephone from Kismayu.

Read also: Child suicide bomber kills five, injures 40 during wedding in Afghanistan

“So far we know 13 people died. Many people have been rescued. The four attackers were shot dead.”

In a statement, the Somali Journalists Syndicate said there were two reporters killed.

“Mohamed Omar Sahal, SBC TV correspondent based in Kismayo and Hodan Naleyeh, female TV journalist and founder of Integration TV [are] both among [those] killed,” Abdalle Ahmed Mumin, the syndicate’s secretary general, said.

Security official Abdiweli Mohamed said heavily armed gunmen forced their way inside the hotel, shooting as they went.

“Several gunmen entered and started shooting but the security forces responded quickly and engaged in a gunfight with the attackers inside the building,” he said.

 

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