MPs die as suspected al-Shabaab suicide bomb at Somalia hotel kills 31.Somali militants storm hotel, 31 dead includes MPs

An injured woman is carried to Medina hospital as fighting rages in Mogadishu Photo: AFP/GETTY

At least eight MPs from Somalia's Western-backed government were reportedly killed when a gunman and a suicide bomber believed to be linked to al-Qa'eda attacked a Mogadishu hotel.

Witnesses who fled the scene said they saw at least 31 bodies lying in the rubble. The mid-morning raid targeted a meeting of MPs in the south of Somalia's capital close to the presidential palace. Two men dressed as government soldiers approached the Muna Hotel, killed a guard, and ran into the lobby spraying gunfire. One of them then detonated an suicide device. "Two armed men have entered the hotel, one of them blew himself up and the other one started shooting people including MPs," said Abdullahi Abdi, a Somali police official at the scene. "At least 16 people were killed in the shooting and suicide bombing. The police have entered the hotel and investigating. One attacker is still resisting, but we hope to arrest him." No-one has yet claimed responsibility for the strike, but it is likely to be the work of one of Somalia's Islamist insurgent groups linked to al-Qa'eda. The leading group, al-Shabaab, warned on Monday that it planned a "massive war" on "invaders" in Somalia - an apparent reference to the African Union peacekeeping mission in the country. It is the deadliest attack on the Somalia's transitional government, seen by Britain and the West as the best chance to bring stability after 19 years of anarchy. The country is currently largely under the control of Islamist insurgents linked to al-Qa'eda. Four ministers died when an al-Shabaab suicide bomber dressed as a woman hit another Mogadishu hotel during a university graduation ceremony in December. Mortar attacks on the parliament and the president's compound are common. The government is supposed to be under the protection of a force of 6,300 African Union peacekeepers drawn from Uganda and Burundi. Uganda confirmed on Monday that it had sent "hundreds" of reinforcements to Mogadishu to battle the insurgents, following the World Cup final suicide attacks in Kampala which killed 76 people.
Barigye Ba-hok, spokesman for the African Union force in Somalia, said that investigations into Tuesday's hotel attack would be launched. He said he had no details on whether there were peacekeepers deployed at the venue to protect the meeting. Telegraph
Somali militants storm hotel, 31 dead includes MPs