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Sorry - this page has been removed. Al-Shabaab claims responsibility for deadly Somalia hotel attack
(2 months later)
This could be because it launched early, our rights have expired, there was a legal issue, or for another reason. At least seven people have been killed after militants claiming to be from al-Shabaab stormed a hotel in Mogadishu, police say.
Government officials are trapped inside the Maka al-Mukarama hotel in the Somali capital, which officers have surrounded, but they cannot be rescued because of heavy gunfire from inside.
For further information, please contact: The remains of two destroyed cars lie just outside the gates of the building.
Maj Ismail Olow, a Mogadishu police officer at the scene, told Reuters. “The hotel is now fully under the control of the militants. Al-Shabaab fighters are on the top of the building and inside the hotel. It is not easy for us to go in.”
Al-Shabaab has issued a statement taking responsibility for the attack.
Its military spokesman Sheikh Abdiasis Abu Musab told Reuters: “We are behind the Maka al-Mukarama hotel attack, and fighting is still going on inside.”
The group was pushed out of Mogadishu by African Union (AU) peacekeeping forces in 2011, but has since launched a series of attacks in a bid to overthrow the government and impose its strict version of sharia law on the country.
An offensive launched last year by AU forces and the Somali army drove al-Shabaab out of its strongholds in central and southern Somalia, and a series of US drone strikes have killed some of its top leaders.
Al-Shabaab, however, has continued to strike back with often devastating effect using bomb and gun attacks in Mogadishu and other areas. It has also attacked the countries supporting the AU mission.