Militant Al Shabaab Serang Hotel Somalia, 10 People Died

UNSPLASH/Maxim Hopman ILLUSTRATION

JAKARTA - The death toll from al Shabaab's attack on hotels in Somalia, where clan leaders met, increased to 10 people. Most of the victims were civilians.

On Tuesday, March 11, the striker from a group linked to al Qaeda attacked a hotel in Beledweyne with a car bomb before his gunmen entered the hotel and were involved in a day-long siege with government forces trying to expel them.

The tribal elders from the Hiran region gathered at the hotel for a meeting to discuss how to fight al Shabaab before the attack, which the Islamist militant group claimed.

A tribal elder previously said the death toll reached seven people.

"The embezzlement ended last night in the middle of the night. Four attackers blew themselves up and two other attackers were shot dead," Major Nur Aden, a police officer told Reuters.

"Tten people died in hospital including the elders and soldiers, mostly civilians," he said.

A resident who lives next to the hotel, Ahmed Ismail, said the gunfire eased around midnight.

Al Shabaab often carried out bomb and gun attacks in the fragile Horn of Africa as part of a campaign launched nearly two decades ago to overthrow the government and build its own government based on its rigorous interpretation of Islamic law.

Al Shabaab said his fighters killed 20 people including the army and the elderly.

They did not provide details about their own victims. The number they provide is often different from the number of officials and residents.