Watch the moment armed men stormed a hotel with two car bombs in Somalia

The Somali “Al-Shabab” movement has claimed responsibility for an attack on Friday evening, a hotel in the Somali capital, Mogadishu.

The website of the newspaper “Somalia Today” added that the movement announced that suicide bombers stormed the “Al-Hayat Hotel”, which is frequented by politicians and senior leaders in the country, and explained that sources and witnesses confirmed that two car bombs entered the hotel yard and exploded in succession, followed by an armed attack.

The website quoted local sources as saying that “gunmen stormed the Al Hayat Hotel near Mogadishu airport following a violent attack, and that at least 3 explosions rocked the hotel, before the gunmen stormed it.”

The sources confirmed that the confrontations are still so far inside the hotel between the attacking gunmen and the security forces, confirming the deaths and injuries of civilians and security forces.

The newspaper had reported earlier that a series of successive explosions were heard in central Mogadishu, and the explosions were followed by a heavy exchange of fire between gunmen and security forces.