Large blast at Mogadishu hotel as suicide car bomber hits
A Somali police officer says a suicide car bomber blew himself up at the gate of a hotel frequented by government officials near the presidential palace in Mogadishu, Somalia’s capital.
Capt. Mohamed Hussein says the bomber drove his explosives-laden car into the gate of the SYL hotel on Thursday. There was no immediate word on casualties.
The blast comes one day before the Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan arrives in the Somali capital on Friday, his second visit to the city.
The attack bears the hallmarks of attacks by al-Shabab, an Islamic extremist group fighting the Somali government and the African Union forces in the country. There was no immediate claim of responsibility.
The Associated Press
