At least 12 killed as Shebab attack Somalia hotel

At least 12 people were killed in the Somali capital on Sunday after Shebab gunmen used a vehicle packed with explosives to blast their way inside a hotel, police said.

 The Al-Qaeda-linked Shebab claimed responsibility for the dawn attack at the Sahafi hotel, which is popular with members of parliament, government employees and businessmen.

 After the car bomb ripped a hole in the hotel's fortified walls, gunmen stormed the building firing semi-automatic rifles and throwing grenades, witnesses said.

 "This is the action of an increasingly desperate, internally-divided group of extremists," Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud said in a statement, after security forces overpowered the attackers in a gunbattle.

 "Our security forces have full control of the situation," he added.

 Somalia's National and Intelligence Agency declared the attack over several hours after the shooting began, although special forces appeared to be carrying out mopping-up operations for some time afterwards.

 The African Union mission in Somalia (AMISOM), a 22,000-strong force fighting the Shebab, said it had helped government troops repel the attack and secure the hotel.

 "Attackers exploded a car bomb to gain entry before going inside... we have reports of 12 dead," policeman Abdulrahid Dahir said.

 Among the fatalities was a Somali freelance journalist, the Somali Association of Journalists said, adding that a photographer with the Reuters news agency had been slightly hurt.

 The pair were hit when they arrived at the hotel to report on the first explosion. It was then that the second car bomb detonated.

 A former senior army commander was also among the dead.

 The UN envoy to Somalia, Nick Kay, condemned the "bloody attack" which he said underlined the need to help support Somalia's security forces in stopping such assaults.

Caption: Soliders of African Union stand at guard

Photo Credit: www.japantoday.com