Somalia: Southwest's Interior Minister killed in Hotel attack

MOGADISHU, Somalia - The Minister of Interior for Southwest state Madoobe Nuunow Mohamed was killed in an Al Shabaab siege at Naasa-Hablood hotel in Mogadishu on Saturday, Garowe Online reports.

The Minister was shot dead in his room by the attackers who holed up inside, taking hotel guests as hostages. The bloody siege began after the compound was stormed by Al Shabaab Islamic militants.

Late Nuunow has arrived in the capital from Baidoa city last Thursday, along with Southwest state President Sharif Hassan Sheikh Aden to attend a key meeting on the development of the lower governments.

The attackers detonated two simultaneous car bombs at the gate before entered the popular hotel, which is located near the heavily fortified Somalia's Presidential Palace, the Villa Somalia in Mogadishu.

An estimated of 3 attackers are fighting in the hotel, as the Somali security forces are on the scene and trying to end the standoff, which started on Saturday afternoon at around 5:30 p.m. local time.

The Al Qaeda-linked Al Shabaab extremists have immediately claimed responsibility for the attack through a statement posted on its affiliated media outlets.

A Police colonel Mohamed Yusuf Nur known as (Fanah), a former member of Parliament, Abdinasir Garane and an adviser at the Federal Ministry of Interior, and Zakariye Mohamud were among the high-profile figures killed in the hotel siege.

This attack comes barely two weeks after a truck bomb has killed at least 358 people and wounded hundreds of others at the busy Zoobe junction in the capital. There was no claim of responsibility for that attack so far.

GAROWE ONLINE