Nine people were killed and 10 wounded in a six-hour siege by Islamist Al-Shabaab militants at a beachside hotel in Somalia's capital Mogadishu, police said Saturday.
The dead include six civilians and three members of the security forces who were killed during the rescue operation. Additionally, Abdikadir Abdirahman, director of Aamin ambulance service, said his group had carried 20 wounded people from the scene.
The attackers stormed the Pearl Beach hotel just before 8pm on Friday (1700 GMT). The attack ended at around 2am, police said, after a fierce gunfight between security forces and the militants, all of whom were killed during the battle.
"The security forces managed to rescue 84 people including women and children and elderly people," a police statement said.
Popular spot
Witnesses reported hearing gunfire and explosions at the hotel on Lido beach, a popular spot along Mogadishu's coastline.
The Al-Qaeda-linked jihadists have been waging an insurgency against the internationally backed federal government for more than 15 years and have often targeted hotels, which tend to host high-ranking Somali and foreign officials.
The Pearl Beach hotel is down the street from the Turkish Embassy and is popular with government officials.
Lido Beach is one of Mogadishu's most popular areas and is busy on Friday nights as Somalis enjoy the weekend by visiting local coffee shops and ice cream parlours.
Endemic insecurity
Al Shabab killed 54 Ugandan peacekeepers in an attack on an African Union base in the southern town of Bulo Marer last month.
The latest attack highlights the endemic security problems in the Horn of Africa country as it struggles to emerge from decades of conflict and natural disasters.
In a separate incident earlier, a mortar shell explosion near Qoryoley town in Somalia's Lower Shabelle region has killed about 27 individuals, mainly children, and injured 53 on Friday, according to the state news agency.
The children were ''playing with a mortar shell that did not go off. It exploded on them,'' Abdi Ahmed, deputy district commissioner of Qoryoley told reporters earlier.
Residents said that the unexploded shells, which were being played with by the children, were used by the warring factions in Somalia.
