- Title: Battle rages in Mogadishu after al Shabaab hotel attack
- Date: 1st March 2019
- Summary: MEXICO CITY, MEXICO (MARCH 01, 2019) (REUTERS) VARIOUS, SAUL "CANELO" ALVAREZ (LEFT) AND DANIEL "MIRACLE MAN" JACOBS (RIGHT) HOLDING BELTS AT NEWS CONFERENCE BELTS CANELO AND JACOBS STANDING FACE-TO-FACE VARIOUS, CANELO AND JACOBS AT NEWS CONFERENCE JOURNALISTS LOOKING ON VARIOUS, CANELO AND JACOBS AT NEWS CONFERENCE JOURNALISTS JACOBS SEATED AT NEWS CONFERENCE CANELO SPEA
- 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
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