Somalia: scores killed in a foiled beachside hotel siege claimed by Al-Shabab

Somali security forces have brought an end to a six-hour siege of a beachside hotel in the capital, Mogadishu, during which at least six civilians were killed and 10 wounded.
Responsibility for the Friday evening’s attack on the popular, upmarket Pearl Restaurant was claimed by the armed group al-Shabab, the Somali Police Force said on Saturday (10 June). Shortly after its fighters stormed the building located on the capital’s Lido Beach, security forces responded at the site as some people remained trapped inside. Witnesses reported hearing an explosion followed by heavy gunfire at the hotel. “Three brave members of the security forces were martyred during the rescue operation,” the police said in a statement, adding that they killed seven attackers from the al-Qaeda-linked rebel group.
The attack came only days after al-Shabab fighters killed 54 Ugandan peacekeepers in an attack on an African Union (AU) base in the southern town of Bulo Marer. Last year, Somalia’s President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud launched an “all-out war” against the extremist group, rallying Somalis to help flush out members of the group he described as “bedbugs”. Although it succeeded in driving out Al-Shabab out of Somalia’s main towns and cities, the group has retained power in large swaths of rural areas, carrying out attacks on hotels and other high-profile locations in Mogadishu, usually starting with a suicide bombing.