Nine people killed in suicide attack on Mogadishu hotel

At least nine people were killed in the Somali capital Mogadishu on Wednesday when a suicide bomber rammed a car into a hotel, police and witnesses said, in an attack claimed by militant Islamist group al Shabaab, Reuters reported. Gunfire followed the attack on the Posh Hotel, the only venue with a discotheque in the capital, a Reuters witness said. Mohamed Hussein said there was confusion over whether gunmen had fought their way inside after the blast and whether a hostage situation was underway at the Pizza House restaurant. The attack began around 8 pm on Wednesday evening with a suicide car bombing at the Post Treats restaurant and club, after which gunmen stormed inside the nearby Pizza House restaurant. This and snipers have made it difficult for the security forces to head inside.” The whole district has been cordoned off by the security forces, reported BBC. Al-Shabab, a Somalia-based extremist group that often targets popular area in Mogadishu, claimed responsibility. “A mujahid (fighter) with his suicide car bomb martyred himself after he rammed into the Posh Hotel, which is a nightclub. With a new federal government established, pressure is growing on Somalia’s military to assume full responsibility for the country’s security. The operation goes on,” Abdiasis Abu Musab, the group’s military spokesman, told Reuters

Since losing large swathes of territory to African Union peacekeepers supporting the government, the group has frequently launched raids and deadly attacks in Mogadishu and other regions controlled by the federal government.
A suicide bomber explodes a car bomb near a hotel, al-Shabaab militants then storm the hotel and a pizza restaurant, killing least 20 people and taking others hostage, in Somalia's capital Mogadishu. All five attackers are later killed.