The siege of the hotel attacked Friday evening by radical Islamists Shebab in the Somali capital Mogadishu is over, announced on Saturday by the public news agency SONNA and the public television channel SNTV. The police have reported that six civilians have been killed and ten wounded in the attack.
“Security forces neutralized the militias (Shebabs) who carried out a deadly terrorist attack on the Pearl Beach hotel” south of the capital Mogadishu on the Lido beach, and “shot them down”, SNTV reported.
The same source reported that many civilians were rescued and the SONNA agency confirmed the information.
The Shebabs claimed responsibility for the attack, claiming to have targeted a place frequented by the authorities.
Friday evening, witnesses, contacted by AFP, had reported heavy shooting near the establishment. In August 2020, the Shebabs launched a major attack on the Elite, another hotel on the Lido beach, killing ten civilians and a policeman. It took the security forces four hours to regain control of the establishment.
The shebabs, affiliated with al-Qaeda and who demand the establishment of Islamic law in the country, have been fighting for more than fifteen years with the federal government supported by the international community.