NAIROBI, Kenya — 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.
American-trained commandos from Somalia’s security services killed all four attackers after a shootout that lasted several hours, said Abdikamil Moalim Shukri, a spokesman for Somalia’s Internal Security Ministry. Witnesses said the attackers appeared to be tactically proficient, fighting their way into the hotel and then firing on government security forces from the rooftop.
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/26/world/africa/islamist-militants-storm-hotel-in-somalia-killing-at-least-6.html
