Mogadishu explosion death toll rises
The triple explosion and following gunfire attack next to the hotel in Mogadishu area claimed lives of 39 people and left 17 wounded, media has been reporting since November 9 afternoon, when the suicide bomber used his device.
Security guards at the Sahafi hotel and an office next door opened fire after two suicide car bombs went off. A third blast from a bomb placed in a three-wheeled “tuk-tuk” vehicle near the hotel also hit the busy street.
“We have confirmed 39 civilians died and 40 others were injured in yesterday’s blasts,” said a police officer in the Mogadishu.
“The death toll may rise because some people are still missing.” The owner of Sahafi Hotel has been also killed in he attack just three years after his father died in a similar assault.
Al-Shabab claimed it targeted government officials staying at the hotel.
Some reports say armed militants stormed the building guarded by security officers after the first of at least three bomb blasts.
Eyewitnesses spoke of heavy gunfire in the area.
