Wednesday December 11, 2019
MOGADISHU (HOL) - Two security personnel and three civilians were killed in the deadly Al-Shabaab attack at SYL hotel in Mogadishu, police have said adding all the five attackers were killed.
In a statement released following the end of the seven-hour long siege, the police noted security forces successfully rescued 80 people who were trapped in the hotel. Nine civilians and two police officers were injured, the statement added.
The swift move by the security forces averted what would otherwise have been high casualty toll given the number of people who were in the hotel at the time of the attack.The attack which started at about 7pm local time lasted into the night as Somali Special Forces closed in on the militants bringing them down way past midnight.
The attackers who drove in a pick-up truck common with security forces were clad in uniforms from one of the Somali forces’ units.
The attack was the first one since late July when a suicide bomber detonated a bomb at the Banaadir Regional headquarters killing the mayor Abdirahman Yarisow and about 6 others city administrators.
Al-Shabaab claimed responsibility for last night’s attack.