Al Shabab invasion against Mogadishu hotel leaves victims

Somali security troops stormed a hotel in the capital Mogadishu late on Monday to end an invasion by Al Shabab militants after almost a day-long fight in which more than nine people died.

The militants invaded the Villa Rose, a hotel widely held with representatives and administration officials, in a hail of bullets and blasts at about 8pm on Sunday.

After almost 21 hours, national police spokesman Sadik Dudishe informed journalists that “the clearance operation in the Villa Rose hotel has ended”.

The militants “killed eight civilians who stayed in the hotel and the security forces succeeded in rescuing about 60 civilians,” he added.

“No one among the civilians was wounded.”

One member of the security forces was murdered in the invasion and five were wounded, he continued.

“There were about six attackers involved — five of them were shot and killed by the security forces and one of them detonated himself.”

Source: Menafn