Mogadishu hotel terrorist attack kills at least 23

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A suicide truck bomb has exploded outside a popular hotel in Somalia’s capital, killing at least 23 and wounding more than 30, while gunfire continues as security forces pursued other attackers inside the building.

Two more blasts were heard on Saturday when one when an attacker detonated a suicide vest.

Speaking to The Associated Press by telephone from the scene, Captain Mohamed Hussein said 30 people, including a government minister, were rescued from Mogadishu’s Nasa-Hablod hotel as heavy gunfire continued in the standoff between extremists and security forces.

Three of the five attackers were killed, Hussein said. The others hurled grenades and cut off the building’s electricity as night fell.

Saturday’s blasts came two weeks after more than 350 people were killed in a massive truck bombing on a busy Mogadishu street in the country’s worst-ever attack.

Al-Shabab, Africa’s deadliest Islamic extremist group, quickly claimed responsibility for Saturday’s attack and said its fighters were inside the hotel.

Among the dead were a mother and three children, including a baby, all shot in the head, Hussein said. Other victims included a senior Somali police colonel, a former lawmaker and a former government minister. Footage from the scene showed twisted vehicles and nearby buildings with only walls left standing.

Security officials say Saturday’s bomber had pretended his truck had broken down outside the gate.

Police Colonel Mohamed Abdullahi says the bomber stopped outside the heavily fortified hotel and pretended to repair the truck before finally turning it around and detonating.

Al-Shabab often targets high-profile areas of Mogadishu. It has not commented on the massive attack two weeks ago; experts have said the death toll was so high that the group hesitated to further anger Somali citizens as its pursues its insurgency.