At least 13 civilians have been killed and dozens wounded in an Islamist militant attack on a hotel in the Somalian capital, officials said yesterday, as security forces battled gunmen barricaded inside many hours after the siege began.
Fighters from al-Shabaab stormed the Hayat Hotel in Mogadishu on Friday evening in a hail of gunfire and bomb blasts.
Scores of people were trapped inside, but officials said many, including children, have since been rescued. Sporadic gunfire and loud explosions could be heard yesterday afternoon, but details remained difficult to verify in the chaos.
Photo: AFP
It is the biggest attack in Mogadishu since Somalian President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud was elected in May after many months of political instability.
Al-Shabaab, which has been waging a deadly insurgency for 15 years against the fragile government in the Horn of Africa nation, has claimed responsibility.
“We are getting information about five more victims confirmed dead and that makes 13 the overall number of civilians killed by the terrorists,” security commander Mohamed Abdikadir said. “The security forces rescued dozens of civilians, including children, who were trapped in the building.”
Police officer Ibrahim Duale confirmed that more than 10 people had been killed, but said updated information would be released once the siege had ended.
“The security forces will announce any moment that the siege is over, it took a long time because of the complexity of the rescue mission,” Duale said.
The director of Mogadishu’s main trauma hospital, Mohamed Abdirahman Jama, said the facility was treating at least 40 people wounded in the hotel attack and a separate mortar strike on another area of the capital.
Dozens of people gathered outside the four-story hotel to discover the fate of loved ones.
“We have been looking for a relative of mine who was trapped inside the hotel, she was confirmed dead together with six other people, two of them I know,” Muudey Ali said.
In another incident, a volley of mortar shells hit the seafront neighborhood of Hamar Jajab, district commissioner Mucawiye Muddey said.
“Among those critically wounded are a newlywed bride and her groom and a family of three children, a mother and their father,” he said.
There was no immediate claim for that attack. Witnesses had on Friday reported at least two powerful explosions as gunmen stormed the hotel, a popular spot for government officials in a bustling area on the airport road.
Police spokesman Abdifatah Adan Hassan had told reporters on Friday the initial blast was caused by a suicide bomber who forced his way into the hotel with other gunmen.
Witnesses said a second blast occurred just a few minutes later as rescuers, security forces and civilians rushed to the scene.
BACK IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD: The planned transit by the ‘Baden-Wuerttemberg’ and the ‘Frankfurt am Main’ would be the German Navy’s first passage since 2002 Two German warships are set to pass through the Taiwan Strait in the middle of this month, becoming the first German naval vessels to do so in 22 years, Der Spiegel reported on Saturday. Reuters last month reported that the warships, the frigate Baden-Wuerttemberg and the replenishment ship Frankfurt am Main, were awaiting orders from Berlin to sail the Strait, prompting a rebuke to Germany from Beijing. Der Spiegel cited unspecified sources as saying Beijing would not be formally notified of the German ships’ passage to emphasize that Berlin views the trip as normal. The German Federal Ministry of Defense declined to comment. While
‘REGRETTABLE’: TPP lawmaker Vivian Huang said that ‘we will continue to support Chairman Ko and defend his innocence’ as he was transferred to a detention facility The Taipei District Court yesterday ruled that Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) Chairman Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) be detained and held incommunicado over alleged corruption dating to his time as mayor of Taipei. The ruling reversed a decision by the court on Monday morning that Ko be released without bail. After prosecutors on Wednesday appealed the Monday decision, the High Court said that Ko had potentially been “actively involved” in the alleged corruption and ordered the district court to hold a second detention hearing. Ko did not speak to reporters upon his arrival at the district court at about 9:10am yesterday to attend a procedural
Thirty Taiwanese firms, led by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) and ASE Technology Holding Co (日月光投控), yesterday launched a silicon photonics industry alliance, aiming to accelerate the medium’s development and address the energy efficiency of artificial intelligence (AI) devices like data centers. As the world is ushering in a new AI era with tremendous demand for computing power and algorithms, energy consumption is emerging as a critical issue, TSMC vice president of integrated interconnect and packaging business C.K. Hsu (徐國晉) told a media briefing in Taipei. To solve this issue, it is essential to introduce silicon photonics and copackaged optics (CPO)
The High Court yesterday overturned a Taipei District Court decision to release Taiwan People’s Party Chairman Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) and sent the case back to the lower court. The Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office on Saturday questioned Ko amid a probe into alleged corruption involving the Core Pacific City development project during his time as Taipei mayor. Core Pacific City, also known as Living Mall (京華城購物中心), was a shopping mall in Taipei’s Songshan District (松山) that has since been demolished. On Monday, the Taipei District Court granted a second motion by Ko’s attorney to release him without bail, a decision the prosecutors’ office appealed