20 Killed Including Government Officials In Attacks On Somali Hotel

At least 20 people including two Somali government officials have been killed and 37 others have sustained injuries including 24 seriously wounded as a car bomber smashed into the gate of Central Hotel followed a cuicide bomber who blew himself up inside the  hotel  on Friday.

Deputy governor political affairs of Benadir region, Mohamed Adn Guleed aka Aane-geel and MP Omar Ali Noor aliases Furdug and 18others  were killed in the attacks which their responsibility was claimed by Al-Shabab fighters who gave interview to Reuters few minutes after the incident.

“We are behind the attacks. We targeted government officials in the hotel, this is part of our operation in Mogadishu,” Sheikh Abdiasis Abu Musab, al Shabaab’s military operations spokesman, told Reuters.

This is the second attack on a hotel in Mogadishu in less than a month. On Jan. 22, three Somali nationals were killed when a suicide car bomber blew himself up at the gate of SYL hotel,housing the advance party of the Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan who visited the country days later.
A Somali intelligence official said that the Turkish delegation of around 70 members was staying at the hotel at the time of the attack but were unharmed.