Several feared dead, scores injured in horrific attack on Hayat hotel

GOOBJOOG NEWS|MOGADISHU: A raging battle is still ongoing 10 hours later between Somalia’s Elite forces and Intelligence officers and heavily armed Al-Shabaab terrorists inside the Hayat hotel, which the group launched an attack last night with explosives and gunfire.

Security forces are currently at the top floor of the building, where it is believed one of the terrorists is holed up, although it is yet unclear the number of terrorists still alive.

Officials who spoke to the media have currently put the number of dead at 10, although multiple sources indicate the number could be higher. They added that they have successfully rescued a large number of civilians from the hotel, including three children who had been separated from their mother when the first explosion occurred.

Among the injured are the head of intelligence for Mogadishu Muhuddin Warbac Shadoor, former Speaker of Galmudug Government Parliament Ali Gagal Asir, Nabadon Butan Ahmed and Dahir Aga Dahab.

Those confirmed dead in the attack include the owner of the Hayat hotel businessman Abdirahman Hassan Iman, Sheikh Mohamed Babili, Abdi Hadi Mohamed Sheikh, Ibrahim Raage, Yusuf Mahad Barrow and police officers who were at the scene of the attack.

Al-Shabaab has claimed responsibility for the attack on the Hayat hotel, claiming in a website affiliated to the group that militants had “forcibly entered” the hotel and were “carrying out random shooting.