A car loaded with explosives broke through the gate of a hotel in the center of the Somali port city of Chisimaio, followed by gunshots. This was declared by a local police officer and a resident.
Somali state-run national television said on Twitter that security forces were dealing with a “terrorist incident” at the hotel, for which al Shabaab, linked to al-Qaeda, took responsibility. “There was an explosion at the Tawakal hotel and gunshots were heard,” Mohamed Nur, a police captain, from Chisimaio told Reuters. There is no immediate news on the victims. Witnesses said a loud explosion was heard before the shooting began. “The security forces have besieged the scene,” Farah Ali, a shopkeeper from Chisimaio, told Reuters. Abdiasis Abu Musab, a spokesman for al Shabaab’s military operations, said the group was behind the attack and had targeted the Jubbaland region administrators working from the hotel.
The jihadist organization Al Shabaab launched the attack. This was announced by the same group in a press release taken from the Site. Military spokesman Abdiasis Abu Musab and witnesses told the Somali Times that gunshots were heard exploding inside the hotel.