Somalia: 15 killed after Al Shabaab gunmen storm Mogadishu hotel

MOGADISHU, Somalia-At least 15 people including two members of parliament have been killed after Al Shabaab gunmen stormed Mogadishu’s Ambassador hotel frequented by government officials and foreigners on Wednesday, Garowe Online reports. 

Lawmakers Abdullahi Jama and Mohamud Mohamed Gure are among those reported killed in the evening siege.  Sources at Madina hospital tell GO that close to 50 people with different degrees of wounds have been admitted so far. 

Initial reports claimed that former Justice Minister Farah Sheikh Abdulkadir might have been killed but GO learned that his brother Abdulhamid Sheikh Abdulkadir is one of the terror attack victims.  

Somali News Agency SONNA says, the deadly assault on the hotel left Banadir court chairman Hashi Elmi Nur, and MPs—Abdi Hashi Abdullahi, Mohamed Omar Ma’low, Abdullahi Dayiband Mohamed Hirsi Du’alle—wounded.  

Information Minister Mohamed Abdi Hayir was quick to condemn the siege laid by the heavily armed Al Shabaab gunmen.  

With gunfire clattering inside, security forces are trying to clear the hotel and help those who have been stranded.

Al Shabaab claimed responsibility for the attack, two days before a high profile visit by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan who will highly likely be in Mogadishu on Friday.

GAROWEONLINE