Briton among 26 dead in Somalia hotel terror attack

MOGADISHU: A Briton was among several foreigners killed in a terrorist attack on a hotel in Somalia, officials said.Those killed in the attack in the southern port city of Kismayo also included three Kenyans, three Tanzanians, two Americans, one Canadian and one Briton, said Ahmed Madobe, the president of Jubbaland regional state.Fifty-six people, including two Chinese, were injured in the attack before Somali forces ended the all-night siege. AFP reported 26 people killed in the attack.At least four al-Shabab extremists attacked the Asasey Hotel on Friday evening, beginning with a suicide car bomb at the entrance gate and followed by an assault by gunmen who stormed the hotel, which is popular with politicians.AFP confirmed with family members that at least four of the dead had dual nationality. “The security forces are in control now and the last terrorist was shot and killed”, Mohamed Abdiweli, a security official, said. “There are dead bodies and wounded people strewn inside the hotel,” Abdiweli said.He said authorities believed four gunmen, who one witness described as wearing Somali police uniforms, were involved in the attack.Somalia’s extremist rebels, al-Shabab, claimed responsibility for the attack. The group, which is allied to al-Qaeda, often uses car bombs to infiltrate heavily fortified targets like the hotel in Kismayo, which has been relatively quiet in recent years.Canadian journalist Hodan Nalayeh and her husband, Farid Jama Suleiman, died in the attack. “I’m absolutely devastated by the news of the death of our dear sister Hodan Nalayeh and her husband in a terrorist attack in Somalia today. What a loss to us. Her beautiful spirit shined through her work and the way she treated people,” Omar Suleiman, a Texas-based imam who knew the victim, wrote on social media.Nalayeh was born in Somalia in 1976 but spent most of her life in Canada, first in Alberta and then in Toronto. She founded Integration TV, an international web-based video production company aimed at Somali viewers around the world. She was the first Somali woman media owner in the world.“There is chaos inside, I saw several dead bodies carried from the scene and people are fleeing from the nearby buildings,” witness Hussein Muktar said during the assault. “The blast was very big,” he added.“The whole building is in ruins, there are dead bodies and wounded who have been recovered from inside. The security forces have cordoned off the whole area,” said witness Muna Abdirahman. Shabaab fighters have fought for more than a decade to topple the Somali government.

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