Somalia: Continued siege after car explosion at hotel gate in Mogadishu

Somalia: Continued siege after car explosion at hotel gate in Mogadishu

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A car bomb exploded at the gate of the Africa hotel and was followed by gunfire heard inside, Somali police captain Ahmed Hassan told CNN. The incident occurred around 5 p.m. local time (9 p.m. ET), Hassan added.

Armed men from al-Qaeda subsidiary Al-Shabaab gained access to the building after the car bomb blast at the gate, he said.

According to police, there is an ongoing operation to rescue people from inside the hotel. It is unclear at this time whether there are any victims.

The reason for the attack is also unclear, but Hassan said a top commander was in the hotel during the attack. Other senior military officials and lawmakers were also in the hotel, Hassan said.

The hotel is regularly visited by MPs, politicians and security officials, but not foreigners.

People flee while gunshots are heard in a street near the Africa Hotel in Mogadishu

Outside the hotel is the main security point for the airport and the Halane base, which houses western missions, including the US Embassy.

Al-Shabaab claimed responsibility for the attack through a statement issued by Andalus Radio, its mouthpiece channel. CNN could not independently confirm this claim.

The Islamic insurgency group wants to turn Somalia into a fundamentalist Islamic state, according to the Council on Foreign Relations.
It claimed responsibility for a truck bomb attack outside Mogadishu in December that killed 85 people, including two Turkish nationals.
Another terrorist attack on a hotel in Kismayo in the state of Jubaland in Somalia in July killed more than 26 people, including journalists and local officials.
US forces begin to withdraw from Somalia
The militant group also said it was behind a triple car bomb attack near a hotel in Mogadishu in which at least 52 people were killed and 100 injured in November 2018.
US-based U.S. forces began withdrawing from the country in December and were relocated to other bases in East Africa.

U.S. troops in Somalia are mainly training and advising local Somali forces while fighting al-Shabaab. The U.S. military is also carrying out airstrikes on the group and the local ISIS branch in the country, killing a leading al-Shabaab leader in September.

Former US President Donald Trump has ordered the majority of US troops to leave Somalia “early in 2021”, in only one of the most important military policy decisions taken in the last days of his government.

Omar Nor reported from Mogadishu and Radina Gigova wrote from Atlanta, Georgia.

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