Somalia: Al-Shabaab islamist militants storm hotel in Mogadishu killing at least 6 people
Islamist militants stormed a hotel in central Mogadishu, Somalia’s capital, on Saturday afternoon, killing at least six people in what has become a well-established tactic to sow terror.
According to witnesses and government officials, the attack started around 4 p.m. with a car bomb at the gates of the Naso Hablod Hotel, before fighters ran in and shot at guests.
The Shabab militant group, which has been terrorizing Somalia for nearly a decade and claimed responsibility for the attack, has struck at least four other hotels in Mogadishu in the past year.
A deafening car bomb at the hotel gates is typically how such attacks begin.