adminSomali forces ended a deadly 30-hour siege of a hotel in the country’s capital with security personnel clearing explosives planted by al-Shabab fighters in the damaged building.
“The ministry of health has so far confirmed the deaths of 21 people and 117 people wounded,” Health Minister Ali Haji Adan told national broadcaster SNTV on Sunday.
“It is possible there were corpses that were not taken to hospitals but buried by relatives. The death toll and the casualties are based on the figure taken to hospitals,” the minister added.
The Mogadishu attack began when fighters from the al-Shabab armed group unleashed a gun-and-bomb assault on the popular Hayat Hotel on Friday evening.
The area surrounding the hotel was quiet and the roads were blocked by a heavy security presence yesterday as emergency workers and bomb disposal experts sought to clear the premises of any explosives and remove rubble.
The hotel building sustained heavy damage during the gunfight between Somali forces and the attackers.
It caused some parts of it to collapse, leaving many people frantically searching for their loved ones who were inside when the siege began.
Police Commissioner Abdi Hassan Mohamed Hijar told reporters 106 people, including children and women, were rescued by security forces during the siege.
As bullets and flames ripped through the hotel, security forces searched the property to bring civilians to safety, including three young children who hid inside a toilet.
“The casualties mostly happened in the early hours of the attack, after that security forces spent time rescuing people individually and room by room,” Hijar said. — Al Jazeera
Online Reporter