MOGADISHU, Somalia, March 2 (NNN-AGENCIES) – At least 23 people have been killed and 45 wounded, Somali police told on Friday, in a truck bomb attack overnight in Mogadishu perpetrated by suspected members of the al-Shabaab militant group.
Police spokesperson Abshir Isak said from the scene of the attack that the assailants were targeting the Maka Al Mukarama hotel, located on a busy downtown street in the Somali capital, where operations to assist the victims were ongoing on Friday.
According to the spokesperson, the explosion occurred near the gate of the hotel – frequented by Somali government officials – and five attackers tried to enter the premises but were unable to do so as it was partially destroyed and they hid in a nearby building.
Following the explosion, which was heard several kilometers away and which caused significant damage to nearby shops and vehicles on the street, several bursts of gunfire could be heard, according to local media reports.
Security forces were deployed to the scene of the attack and an operation was launched early Friday, the results of which have yet to be released.
The number of casualties were expected to rise throughout the day as updated tolls are provided by the hospitals and the authorities.
Local media reported that the attack was claimed by al-Shabab terror group.
This could be the worst attack perpetrated by al-Shabaab in Mogadishu since Oct. 14, 2017, when a truck bomb attack left at least 512 people dead, the deadliest terror attack in Somalia’s history.
Mogadishu is frequently hit by attacks claimed by al-Shabaab, which pledged loyalty to the al-Qaeda terror group in 2012 and seeks to establish an Islamic state in the country, located on the Horn of Africa. It controls swathes of territory in the nation’s central and southern regions.
Al-Shabaab have perpetrated several other recent attacks, including a car bomb on on Feb. 4 which killed at least 12 people and injured 15.
That incident followed less than a week after a twin car bomb explosion left seven dead.
Somalia has been in a state of war and upheaval since 1991, when former dictator Mohamed Siad Barre was overthrown, leaving the country without an effective government and vulnerable to Islamic radical militants, warlords and criminal armed groups.