Al-Shabaab attacks Somali hotel

Operatives of Somali insurgent group Al-Shabaab attacked a hotel in the capital Mogadishu killing a number of occupants, a federal lawmaker confirmed on Twitter late Tuesday.

MP Abdirizak Mohamed wrote on Twitter: “Report of Alshabab inside SYL. This was confirmed for me by a federal MP who escaped from the scene by jumped over the wall to Berta nabadda. There are casualties but numbers not known yet.”

He was responding to an earlier tweet by a Voice of America journalist who covers the Horn of Africa, Harun Maruf. Maruf, author of the book “Inside Al-Shabaab” had reported of gunfire in the vicinity of SYL hotel.

The militants have usually carried out deadly attacks on hotels in the capital as part of their fight to take over the federal government.

The security mix in Somalia consists of the national army, the African Union Mission in Somalia, AMISOM, and troops from neighbouring Ethiopia and Kenya keeping the militants at bay in different areas.