Somali authorities appear to have ended a deadly attack on a hotel in the capital on Sunday in which at least 20 people were killed.
It took more than 30 hours for Somali forces to contain the gunmen who stormed Mogadishu’s Hayat hotel on Friday night in an assault that began with loud explosions.
Ismail Abdi, the hotel manager, told the AP that although the siege was over, security forces were still working to clear the area.
No more gunshots could be heard after 9 a.m. local time.
Onlookers gathered outside the gates of the badly damaged hotel on Sunday morning, surveying the scene.
The police have not yet given a detailed explanation of the course of the attack. It is not known how many armed men entered the hotel.
The extremist Islamist group al-Shabab, which has links to al-Qaeda, claimed responsibility for the attack, the latest of its frequent attempts to hit locations visited by government officials.
The attack on the hotel is the first major terrorist incident in Mogadishu since new Somali leader Hassan Sheikh Mohamud took power in May.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres condemned the attack, according to the statement from a spokesperson who said the UN stood with the people of Somalia in their fight against terrorism and their march towards peace.
(Only the title and image of this report may have been edited by Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
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