SOMALIA-ATTACKS/AFTERMATH Somalia hotel siege ends, 14 dead

Record ID: 355260

  • Title: SOMALIA-ATTACKS/AFTERMATH Somalia hotel siege ends, 14 dead
  • Date: 28th March 2015
  • Summary: BODIES OF THREE AL SHABAAB MILITANTS DISPLAYED OUTSIDE HOTEL
  • Embargoed: 12th April 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Somalia
  • Country: Somalia
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA98M9ABONNCM316LKF6OBRMA8D
  • Story Text: EDITORS PLEASE NOTE: THIS EDIT CONTAINS GRAPHIC IMAGES
    A hotel siege by al Shabaab militants in the Somali capital ended early morning Saturday (March 28), and the final death toll from the attack stands at 14, a senior government official said.
    Al Shabaab fighters blasted and shot their way into the popular Hotel Maka Al Mukaram on Friday (March 27) afternoon, trapping many government officials.
    Security personnel led by a unit from the elite U.S.-trained Special Forces troops known as "Gaashaan" (Shield) stormed the hotel on Friday evening and fought the attackers into Saturday.
    African peacekeeping forces pushed al Qaeda-linked al Shabaab out of Mogadishu in 2011, but it has kept up guerrilla-style attacks, looking to overthrow the government and impose its strict version of Sharia, or Islamic law, on the country.
    Information Minister Mohamed Abdi Hayer said the 14 dead included Somalia's Ambassador to Geneva, five civilians, four hotel guards and four government soldiers.
    Four attackers, including one who detonated a car bomb, were also killed.
    He also added that the security forces had to go in and barred the attackers into one room.
    "The security forces foiled the terrorist attack and did not give the assailants a chance in order to prevent those taking people as hostages and behead one by one, we barred the attackers in a room to lessen the casualties," Mohamed Abdi Hayer said.
    Police had previously put the number of dead at 15, and 20 wounded.
    Sheikh Ali Mahamud Rage, al Shabaab's spokesman, said in an emailed statement that fighters who had survived the attack had left the hotel, and he threatened more violence.
    He did not say how many people had been involved in the attack.
    Abdiasis Abu Musab, al Shabaab's military operations spokesman, said they had targeted only government officials and had spared civilians.
    Earlier on Saturday journalists and paramedics had been barred from entering the hotel grounds and had only been allowed to watch from its gate.
    Streets surrounding the hotel were sealed off by government and African Union (AU) peacekeeping troops.
    An offensive launched last year by AU forces along with the Somali army has driven al Shabaab from its strongholds in central and southern Somalia, while a series of U.S. drone strikes have killed some of its top leaders.
    In February, al Shabaab fighters attacked another hotel in Mogadishu, killing at least 25.
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