UPDATED March 28, 9:45 p.m. ET: Somali troops took control of the Maka Al-Mukarramah hotel, after extremist gunmen occupied it for more than 12 hours, according to The Associated Press. At least 17 people died and dozens were wounded.
#BREAKING Remaining hostages at Maka-Almukarama hotel freed. Police are in full controll State-media reports #Somalia— Mogadishu News (@MogadishuNews) March 28, 2015
Islamist militants stormed a hotel popular with westerners and government officials in the Somali capital on Friday, killing at least seven people, officials and the militants said.
The attack, which appeared well-planned and is still ongoing, began when a suicide bomber detonated a car filled with explosives near the gate of Maka Al-Mukarramah Hotel in Mogadishu, police said.
Explosions and gunfire could be heard inside the hotel after other attackers managed to enter the hotel and possibly take hostages, witnesses told reporters.
More than a dozen were reported injured, including Somalia's Ambassador to Switzerland. A local police captain said the death toll was sure to rise.
Breaking: #Alshabaab attackers began beheading hostages inside Maka Al Mukarama hotel as troops trying to rescue them - Witnesses. #Somalia— Mogadishu News (@MogadishuNews) March 27, 2015
A Twitter account called Mogadishu News is also reporting that the militants have begun beheading hostages inside the hotel, though this report is unconfirmed and the attack is ongoing.
One woman, who said she was just a few blocks away, tweeted that the militants had gathered everyone into one hall and would commit "massive murder."
Inna lillahi wa inna ilayhi raji'un THEY'VE GATHERED EVERYONE INTO ONE HALL THIS WILL BE MASSIVE MURDER— Śtëvîe- de' Medici (@panadriam) March 27, 2015
Capt. Mohamed Hussein told the Associated Press he had counted at least nine bodies in the aftermath of the assault outside the gate. “Death toll is sure to rise,” he said.
Abdirizak Mohamed, Somalia's Minister of Internal Security, asked people to refrain from contacting those still inside the hotel, suggesting the siege was still underway.
Please do not contact anyone who is currently inside Maka Al-Mukaram hotel #Somalia— Abdirizak Mohamed (@AbdirizakOm) March 27, 2015
It remained unclear if anyone in particular was targeted in the attack. The Islamic extremist group al-Shabab claimed responsibility for the assault in a message to reporters.
“We are behind the Hotel Maka Al-Mukaram attack and fighting is still going on inside the hotel,” said Sheikh Abdiasis Abu Musab, an Al-Shabaab spokesman, to reporter Jared Feldschreiber.
The militant group routinely carries out suicide bombings, drive-by shootings and other attacks in Mogadishu, the seat of Somalia's Western-backed government. It was their third attack on a hotel in a month.
Al-Shabab killed six people at the same hotel when a car bomb exploded there in 2013. The group said it was targeting "apostate security forces and officials."
The militants have continued to launch attacks in Mogadishu despite being ousted from their bases in the seaside city in 2011.