Published: August 20, 2022
At least 20 people are believed to have been killed during an attack by Alshabab militants on a hotel in the Somali capital, Mogadishu, an official said on Saturday, as security forces continued to battle gunmen holed up inside.
Fighters from the al-Qaida-linked group stormed the popular Hayat hotel on Friday evening in a hail of gunfire and bomb blasts.
The detonations sent huge plumes of smoke over the busy junction on Friday night, and the sound of gunfire still crackled across the capital in the early hours of Saturday morning.
The attack in Mogadishu is the biggest since Somalia’s new president, Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, was elected in May after many months of political instability.
