According to a Somalian Security personnel, at least three people were killed, including two civilians at a hotel in the city of Mogadishu in a jihadist attack, reported AFP. 

According to AFP, Mohamed Dahir, a national security official of Somalia, said that at least six additional civilians have been severely wounded in the incident while confirming that a security guard and two civilians were fatal victims of the attack. 

On Sunday afternoon, a car bomb was detonated at the Hotel Afrik outside the main enterance after which multiple armed men entered the premises while engaging with the hotel’s security with gunfire. The hotel is located in the city centre, in close proximity to the country’s busiest airport and is often visited by substantial members of the community like leaders and politicians. 

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While releasing a brief statement, Al-Shabaab swiftly claimed the attack’s responsibility saying, “The mujahidin stormed in an ongoing operation inside Hotel Afrik where members of the apostate team are stationed.”

Dahir said, “We believe there are three terrorists trapped inside a room in the downstairs of the main building. But unfortunately, there are still civilians trapped inside the building even though many of them including senior military officials have been rescued and extracted from the building.”

Two witnesses said they saw three bodies, those of two men and a woman.

A police spokesman, Sadik Dudishe, said that police “immediately entered the building” at the onset of the attack, rescuing “most” of those inside, adding however: “The operation is still going on.”

An AFP journalist reported earlier that Somali soldiers quickly surrounded the hotel and blocked off access to it.

According to statements of the witnesses, after a car slammed into the hotel’s entrance a massive explosion was seen which was followed by a thick cloud of smoke in the area. 

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“There was another blast after the first big one,” said Osman Saadaq, a witness.

Late Sunday, witnesses said they could still hear sporadic gunfire and explosions perhaps by grenades.

Al-Shabaab has been responsible for substantial unrest in the country and beyond in an attempt to destabilise and remove the current government of Somalia.