At least 26 people were killed and 56 were injured in a 12-hour attack claimed by Al-Shabaab militants on a popular hotel in southern Somalia.
Deadly Islamic Attack on Popular Hotel in Somalia, Americans Among the Dead, 26 People Slaughtered, 56 Hurt, Ilhan Omar SILENT
By Pamela Geller –
“Twenty-six people were killed in the attack and fifty-six others wounded, among those killed are… foreign nationals three Kenyans, one Canadian, one British, two Americans, and three Tanzanians. There are also two wounded Chinese citizens,” regional president Ahmed Mohamed Islam told a news conference.
The suicide bomb and gun attack began Friday when a vehicle loaded with explosives was rammed into the Medina hotel in the port town of Kismayo before several heavily armed gunmen forced their way inside, shooting as they went.
Somalia hotel siege leaves 26 dead
Shabaab claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement, the latest in a long line of bombing and assaults claimed by the Al-Qaeda-linked group.
It was the largest coordinated attack by the Shabaab in Kismayo since 2012 when it lost control of the city.
Three Kenyans, three Tanzanians, two Americans, one Briton and one Canadian were among the dead, president Ahmed Mohamed Islam of the semi-autonomous Jubaland region told a news conference.
Shabaab fighters have fought for more than a decade to topple the Somali government.
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The militant group emerged from Islamic Courts that once controlled central and southern Somalia and are variously estimated to number between 5,000 and 9,000 men.
In 2011, they fled their positions held in Mogadishu, and have since lost many strongholds. But they retain control of large rural swathes of the country and continue to wage a guerrilla war against the authorities.
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