Medical staff carry a wounded woman on a stretcher foll at Madina hospital in Mogadishu on August 16, 2020, following a gun and bomb attack by Al-Shabaab fighters on an upscale beachfront hotel in Somalia’s capital. – At least five people were killed in the attack, officials and witnesses said. Security forces were struggling to regain control of the Elite Hotel in the Lido beach area of Mogadishu hours after the assault began, and the assailants appeared to have taken hostages, government security official Ahmed Omar told AFP. (Photo by STR / AFP)
On Sunday, at least 16 people were killed in an attack by the islamist group known as al Shabaab on a seaside hotel in Somalia’s capital – Mogadishu. This was reported by Ismail Mukhtar Omar, government spokesperson.
Omar said in a Tweet that, the toll includes 11 victims and five assailants.
“Security forces lost one, 18 people were injured,” Omar said.
Militants stormed the high-end Elite Hotel in Lido beach, detonated a car bomb and immediately started opening fire with assault rifles. This is the latest attack by al Shabaab, which has been battling the country’s central government since 2008.
Paramedics and civilians carry an injured person on a stretcher at Madina hospital after a blast at the Elite Hotel in Lido beach in Mogadishu, Somalia August 16, 2020. REUTERS/Feisal Omar
Director of AAMIN ambulance services, Dr Abdikadir Abdirahman, said that they had transported at least 43 injured people in the attack to hospitals.
Somalia has been embroiled in violence since 1991, when clan warlords took over Mohamed Siad Barre and then turned on each other.
