Two Islamist militants have shot dead 30 people, including six members of parliament, in an attack on a Mogadishu hotel.
The militants from the Shebab insurgency, disguised as government security forces, then blew themselves up after the attack on the hotel housing MPs and Somali civil servants.
The attack near to the presidential palace marked a new escalation on the second day of clashes that had already left 29 civilians dead across the Somali capital.
The operation by the al-Qaeda-inspired Shebab group during the holy Muslim month of Ramadan drew strong condemnation from the transitional government and its African Union backers.
’30 people died in this ambush. Six of them are members of the Somali parliament and four are Somali government civil servants,’ Deputy Prime Minister Abdirahman Haji Adan Ibbi said.
‘The 20 others are innocent civilians who died in this horrible incident,’ he added.
Witnesses and hotel staff said the attackers were wearing government security uniforms and shot dead security guards at the gate to the compound as they rushed into the three-storey building.
The Shebab yesterday launched a major offensive against government army barracks in several Mogadishu districts, sparking clashes that left at least 29 civilians dead, according to Ali Muse, head of ambulance services.
The assault underscored the failure of the government and more than 6,300 African Union peacekeepers to bring order to Somalia after nearly two decades of violence, making it a continual source of instability for east Africa.
The government condemned the attack.
