Al Shabaab attack beachside hotel in Somalia, killing 11

At least 16 people were killed on Sunday after the Al Shabaab armed group attacked a seaside hotel in Somalia’s capital Mogadishu.

The militants detonated a car bomb at the high-end Elite Hotel in Lido beach before opening fire with assault rifles, Reuters reported.

Ismael Mukhtar Omar, a spokesman for Somalia’s government said that 16 people – including 11 victims and five attackers – were killed in the attack.

According to Omar, a police officer was also killed in the rescue operation.

He added the hotel siege was ended on Sunday after a fierce three-hour gun battle between al-Shabab fighters and security forces.

Al Shabaab militant group had carried out a similar attack on a Somali military base on Monday.

According to the reports at least five army soldiers were killed in the assault.

Three soldiers were killed when a suicide car bomber rammed the gate to the base, Reuters reported citing Major Mohamed Aden a Somalia military officer.

Soldiers abandoned the base and al Shabaab fighters entered it, planting a booby-trap bomb on one of the dead men which killed two more soldiers when it exploded, he said.

Meanwhile, Abdiasis Abu Musab, the Al Shabaab’s military operations spokesperson has told Reuters that the assailants had killed eight soldiers, including the base commander.

Somalia has been embroiled in civil war since 1991 when clan warlords overthrew leader Mohamed Siad Barre and then turned on each other.