Somalia's security forces on Sunday ended a nearly five-hour siege by Islamist extremists at a beachside hotel in Somalia's capital, said police and a government spokesperson. Security forces later killed all four attackers and rescued dozens of people who were trapped inside the hotel, Ismail Mukhtar, spokesperson of Somalia's information ministry told The Associated Press. The attack started in the afternoon with a powerful car bomb blast which blew off the security gates to the hotel. Somalia's homegrown Islamist extremist rebels, al-Shabab, who are allied to al-Qaeda, have claimed responsibility for the attack via its radio arm, Andalus. The hotel attack shattered a period of calm that had lasted for a few months.

Source: CBC News August 16, 2020 19:52 UTC