Ten civilians and one police officer died following a gun and bomb attack by Al-Shabaab terrorists at beachfront hotel in Somalia’s capital.
Information ministry spokesperson Ismael Mukhtaar Omar confirmed the news in an interview.
Reports revealed that the attack began on early Sunday evening with a heavy explosion and gunfire from the hotel, which usually host government officials.
Official told AFP that security forces took about four hours to regain control of the Elite Hotel in the Lido beach area of Mogadishu after five assailants stormed it.
The dead included government official Abdirasak Abdi, who worked at the information ministry and 28 other sustained various degrees of injuries.
Somalia plunged into chaos after the 1991 overthrow of then-President Siad Barre’s military regime, leading to years of clan warfare followed by the rise of Al-Shabaab which once controlled large parts of the country and Mogadishu.
The group has targeted hotels multiple times over the years and its last major attack in Mogadishu was in December 2019 that killed about 81 people.
