The death toll from Friday’s bomb attacks in Somalia’s capital Mogadishu has risen to 22 according to police.
Islamist militant group al Shabaab was behind the attack, setting off car bombs outside the Sahafi Hotel as well as near the hotel opposite the Criminal Investigations Department headquarters.
Reuters reports that four militants who attempted to enter the hotel were shot dead by our police and the hotel guards.
In total security forces killed six of the militants.
Somalia has been engulfed by violence and lawlessness for close to three decades.
Abdiasisi Abu Musab, al Shabaab’s spokesman for military operations, speaking to Reuters, said the group had singled out the Sahafi for attack because of its association with the government the Islamists want to overthrow.
“We targeted it because it acts as government base. Government officials and security forces are always in the hotel,” he said.
