Somalia: At least 10 killed in Mogadishu hotel bombing

MOGADISHU, Somalia Feb 20, 2015 (Garowe Online)-Somalia’s Al Qaeda linked Al Shabaab group claimed credit for the killing of at least ten people including high ranking government officials and politicians on Friday, Garowe Online reports.

A spokesman for the terror group boasted, they carried out an attack on a hotel frequented by Somalia Federal Government officials.

Police and witnesses say, explosive-laden car exploded in front of Mogadishu’s Central Hotel which is popular with government officials and Diaspora returnees, followed by a suicide bombing inside a mosque in the hotel during Friday prayers.

Among the MPs killed in the attack are Omar Furdug and Haji Kafey. 

Civil Aviation Minister Ali Ahmed Jama Jangeli and Lawmaker Abdulkadir Ali Omar were reportedly wounded in the attack by a suicide bomber, with another source disclosing that Deputy Prime Minister Mohamed Omar Arte has also been wounded.

Credible sources within the government have confirmed  the death of former Puntland Minister Abdishakur Mire Adan, Deputy Banadir Governor Mohamed Adan Guled and former Information Minister under the incumbency of Prime Minister Abdi Farah Shirdon, Abdishakur Ali Mire.  

Despite near-daily Al Shabaab rampages in volatile Mogadishu, the attack marks the deadliest in Months. 

GAROWE ONLINE