Somalia: Al Shabab carries out car bombing of hotel in Mogadishu

Al Jazeera reports that a suspected car bomb attack outside a popular hotel in the Somali capital, Mogadishu, on Friday evening killed at least six people and left the area covered with blood and burning vehicles, a senior police officer has said. Mogadishu has often been the target of attacks by al-Shabab, an al-Qaeda-aligned group that was driven out of the capital by African troops two years ago. “We understand a car laden with explosives was parked in front of the hotel,” Farah Aden, a senior police officer, told Reuters. “This car bomb exploded and burnt the other cars which were also parked there.” Al-Shabab claimed responsibility for the blast. Read article