Attacks have occurred at a hotel in Mogadishu, the capital of Somalia, where it is well known that government officials stay.
Adam Aw Hirsi, the environment minister, announced that he had survived the attack shortly after it started at Villa Rose hotel.
Additionally, there were unconfirmed reports that Somalia’s interior security minister, Mohamed Ahmed, had been attacked.
Al-Shabab terrorists claimed to have overrun the hotel. The insurgents has operated in Somalia for almost 15 years.
In the heart of Mogadishu, the presidential palace is just a short stroll from the Villa Rose hotel, the scene of the ambush.
The attackers, who were armed with explosives and firearms, were unidentified in number, authorities told the media. One eyewitness described hearing a “huge blast, followed by a heavy exchange of gunfire”.
“We were shaken,” Ahmed Abdullahi, who lives close to the scene, told the news agency. “We are just indoors, listening to gunfire.”
Some government officials were rescued from Villa Rose after using windows to escape, Mohammed Abdi, one of the police officers, said.
In August, three months after taking office, President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud pledged “total war” against the militants following an attack on another popular Mogadishu hotel. More than 20 people died.
At least 100 people were murdered in twin car bomb explosions in Mogadishu two months later, close to a busy intersection. Al-Shabab also asserted responsibility for that.
The Somali army and clan militias supported by the government were then organised by President Mohamud in an effort to retake towns and villages from al-Shabab, which dominates significant portions of the nation.
The main objective of the militant group is to overthrow Somalia’s government and install its own system of governance based on a rigorous application of Islamic law.