Huge explosion at hotel in Somali capital; gunmen inside

MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) — A suicide bomber detonated an explosives-laden vehicle at the gate of a Mogadishu hotel, followed by a second explosion heard inside the hotel as gunmen fought their way inside, police said Saturday. At least four bodies were seen outside the hotel, one officer said.

Police Capt. Ali Ahmed said security forces were battling the attackers who took positions inside the Nasa-Hablod hotel near the capital’s busy KM-4 junction.

Police Capt. Mohamed Hussein said he saw four bodies thought to be civilians lying outside the hotel.

The attackers “took positions behind blast walls and sandbags; fighting is still ongoing,” he said, as gunfire could be heard in the background.

A witness to the attack, Ali Mohamud, said the attackers randomly shot at guests at the hotel.

“They were shooting at everyone they could see. I escaped through the back door,” he said.

Yusuf Ali, an ambulance driver, told The Associated Press that he evacuated 11 people injured in the attack to hospitals.

“Most of them were wounded in crossfire,” he said

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack. The Somalia-based, al-Qaeda-linked al-Shabab extremist group has been waging a deadly insurgency across large parts of Somalia and often employs suicide car bomb attacks to penetrate heavily fortified targets in Mogadishu and elsewhere.