Saturday June 10, 2023
Mogadishu (HOL) - Security forces in Somalia have ended more than a seven-hour battle to regain control of a beachside hotel seized by al Shabab militants in the capital, Mogadishu, on Friday midnight, state media reported Saturday.
At least 12 people were killed during the siege, four civilians, two security forces and seven attackers from al Shabab, the police said in a statement. At least ten others were injured.
The police forces have added that 84 civilians were rescued from the hotel during the attack.
Militants from the al-Shabab group, which said it was behind the attack, had been holed up in one of the rooms in the Pearl Hotel in Mogadishu’s Abdiasis district.
The hotel at the center of the attack is near Lido Beach, a popular destination for politicians and members of the Somali diaspora visiting the capital city.
The group claimed that the people who were attacked in the hotel were the people who were responsible for the ongoing offensive against al Shabab, and killing 29 people during the attack.
However, no government official was confirmed to be among those killed in the attack.
This incident occurred during a period of relative calm for Mogadishu after the government in mid-April deployed newly trained military police in and around the city. However, violence by the group has wreaked havoc in other parts of the country.