After Breaching Gates With VBIED Al Shabaab Holds 5 Hour Long Siege on Elite Hotel in Lido Beach, Mogadishu, Somalia
Al Shabaab stormed the Elite Hotel in Lido Beach after breaching the hotel’s gates with an explosive-laden vehicle. At least four gunmen, plus the suicide bomber driver, were involved in the attack which killed nearly 20 people and injured another 43. A five-hour siege ended with assailants killed.The owner of the hotel, former Finance Minister, Abdullahi Mohamed Nur, was inside the hotel during the attack as well as other government employees. Al Shabaab often chooses soft targets like restaurants and hotels to attack government employees and policy makers. At the beginning of August, an al Shabaab suicide bomber targeted another seaside restaurant hosting government officials at Lul Yemeny Seaside Restaurant. A nearly identical attack to the Elite Hotel attack tactics occurred the week prior when al Shabaab suicide bomber targeted 12th April Somalian Army Brigade in the Wardighley District of Mogadishu.Via al-Andalus media, al Shabaab claimed credit for the attack, “Al-Shabaab forces waged amaliyat against a hotel owned by member of federal parliament.”
