Hiiraan Online
Tuesday November 3, 2015
MOGADISHU (HOL) – A Kenyan citizen is among 15 people killed
in Mogadishu on Sunday after gunmen stormed a hotel popular with Somali
officials and foreigners, before a standoff ended when Somali troops shot dead
the last attacker in the building,
Kenyan foreign ministry confirmed on Monday that one of
those killed at Sahafi hotel was a Kenyan but did not immediately provide
further details.
Local media said the Kenyan worked for a private business
firm based in Mogadishu.
15 people including the owner of the hotel Abdirashid
Ilqeyte, the former Somali military chief Abdikarim Dhagabadan, a lawmaker and
attackers were killed.
According to the Somali police, four militants armed with
rocket-propelled grenades, suicide bomb vests and machine guns attacked the
hotel before the dawn break after a suicide car bomber detonated his
explosives-laden vehicle at gate of the hotel.
The attack which was quickly claimed by the Al-Shabab group,
again showed the ability of militants to stage high-profile raids even as their
fighters were ousted from its largest strongholds.
Television pictures showed medical workers carrying bloodied
dead bodies while survivors clambered over a wall to safety.
Despite being ousted from large swathes in south and central
Somalia, Al-Shabab continues to carry out well-planned assaults in the past few
years, raising questions about whether the militant group shifted tactics to
embrace high-profile attacks targeting landmarks, as parts of the group's new
guerrilla attacks.