Battle rages in Mogadishu after al Shabaab hotel attack

Record ID: 1397770

  • Title: Battle rages in Mogadishu after al Shabaab hotel attack
  • Date: 1st March 2019
  • Summary: MOGADISHU, SOMALIA (MARCH 1, 2019) (REUTERS) BUILDINGS IN RUINS IN CENTRAL MOGADISHU WRECKAGE (AUDIO OF GUNFIRE) VARIOUS OF VEHICLES PARKED NEXT TO RUINED BUILDINGS, DESTROYED VEHICLES IN BACKGROUND COW WALKING PAST DESTROYED VEHICLES AND DEBRIS DESTROYED VEHICLE NEXT TO DEBRIS VARIOUS OF CROWD OF ONLOOKERS IN STREET VARIOUS OF RUINED FACADE OF HOTEL MAKA AL-MUKARAMA
  • Embargoed: 15th March 2019 09:35
  • Keywords: Somalia Al Shabab terrorist attack Islamist insurgency nearly 30 people dead hotel bombing Mogadishu
  • Location: MOGADISHU, SOMALIA
  • City: MOGADISHU, SOMALIA
  • Country: Somalia
  • Topics: Conflicts/War/Peace,Insurgencies
  • Reuters ID: LVA001A46WV9J
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Gunfire rang out across central Mogadishu on Friday (March 1) as Somali troops battled to dislodge Islamist insurgents holed up next to a hotel they had bombed the previous evening, and as the death toll stemming from that attack neared 30.
    Al Shabaab fighters set off two bombs outside the Hotel Maka Al-Mukarama on Thursday (February 28) before retreating to an adjacent building, from where they fired on soldiers who tried to enter.
    The blast left the hotel facade and surrounding buildings in ruins and destroyed nearby vehicles.
    The hotel facade and surrounding buildings were badly damaged by the blast and wrecked vehicles nearby.
    Police said on Friday at least 29 people, mostly civilians, had died in the attack and its aftermath and 80 had been wounded. Police were keeping people not involved in the operation at a distance.
    Somalia has been convulsed by lawlessness and violence since 1991, and al Shabaab is fighting to dislodge a Western-backed government protected by African Union-mandated peacekeepers.
    (Production: Abdirahman Hussein and Robert Waweru)
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2019. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
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