Monday November 28, 2022
Mogadishu (HOL) - Somali special forces are battling Al-Shabaab militants inside the Villa Rose hotel in Mogadishu, nearly 12 hours after the militants launched an attack on the
popular hotel.
According to eyewitnesses, the attack began with two suicide bomb attacks close to 8:00 pm before armed Al-Shabaab fighters stormed the complex in Mogadshu's Bondhere district.
There were several government officials inside the hotel when the militants struck, according to witnesses and police.
The hotel is close to Somalia's Presidential Palace and other critical federal government institutions and, as such, popular with senior government officials, including cabinet ministers.
The Villa Rose advertises itself as the "most secure lodging arrangement in Mogadishu" on its website, with metal detectors and a tall encircling wall.
It is unclear how many Al-Shabaab militants participated in the attack.
National security agency official Mohamed Dahir told AFP that four people were killed in the attack but that government forces regained control of the hotel and cornered the militants in a room on the top floor.
"The terrorist gunmen are trapped inside a room in the hotel, and the security forces are close to ending the siege very soon."
"So far, we have confirmed the death of four people," he said, adding that government officials were among those wounded.
Hospital sources placed the figure higher, telling HOL that as many as ten people may have been killed.
Mohamed Sayid Hassan Elmi, a British citizen who arrived in Somalia less than two weeks ago, was reportedly killed in the attack, according to the Director General of the Ministry of Petroleum & Mineral Resources, Mohamed Hashi Abdi Arabey and local journalists.
Somalia's federal Minister of Security, Mohamed Ahmed Doodishe, was among those injured in the attack as was the former official at the Ministry of Finance, Abdullahi Bashir.
Sadik Dudishe, a spokesman for the national police, stated that dozens of citizens and government were saved but provided no more information. He added that government forces attempted to "kill" several armed insurgents inside.
Al Shabaab, an Al Qaeda-affiliated militant insurgency that has spent the last 15 years attempting to topple Somalia's internationally-backed government, claimed responsibility for the assault.
The attack on Sunday comes as Al-Shabab extremists have been driven out of dozens of towns and villages in central Somalia as part of a high-profile government campaign against them in recent months.
Somalia's information ministry reported on Saturday that government forces and allied clan militias killed at least 100 al-Shabab fighters in the central Middle Shabelle region, just days after another 49 al-Shabab militants were killed in the southern part of the lower Shabelle region.
The attack on Villa Rose hotel is the Al-Shabaab's third hotel raid since President Mohamud came to office in mid-May. At least
21 people were killed in a
30-hour siege on Mogadishu's Hayat hotel in August and another
11 killed at the Tawakal Hotel in Kismayo in late October.