Somali police say 32 people died in hotel attack. Al-Shabab claimed responsibility
Police in Somalia said Saturday that 32 people died and 63 others were wounded in an attack on a beach hotel in the capital, Mogadishu, the previous evening.
Al-Qaida’s East Africa affiliate, al-Shabab, said through its radio station that its fighters carried out the attack.
Police spokesperson Maj. Abdifatah Adan Hassan told journalists that one soldier was killed and another wounded, while the rest of the dead were civilians. Witnesses reported an explosion followed by gunfire.
Lido Beach, a popular area in Mogadishu, is bustling on Friday nights as Somalis enjoy their weekend.
A witness, Mohamud Moalim, told The Associated Press that he saw an attacker wearing an explosive vest moments before the man “blew himself up next to the beach-view hotel.”
Moalim said some of his friends who were with him at the hotel were killed and others were wounded.
Another witness, Abdisalam Adam, told the AP that he “saw many people lying on the ground” and had helped take some wounded people to the hospital.
The Lido Beach area has in the past been targeted by militants allied to al-Shabab. The most recent attack last year killed nine people.