June 15, 2017•Update: June 15, 2017
By Mohammed Dhaysane
MOGADISHU, Somalia
Somali security forces have ended a 10-hour-long siege by al-Shabaab that followed a suicide car blast in Mogadishu that killed at least 19 people injured more than 20 others.
Ali Adan, a police official told Anadolu Agency that the militants stormed the Pizza House restaurant after a suicide attack hit the nearby Posh Hotel in southern Mogadishu.
"Our security forces have ended the siege, we have also killed five al-Shabaab members," Internal Security Ministry spokesman Ahmed Mohamed Mohamud told reporters.
He added that at least seven women and a Syrian national were among the victims.
During the rescue operations by Somali special forces, five foreigners -- two Kenyans and three Ethiopians -- were rescued.
The Somali-based al-Qaeda affiliated group al-Shabaab claimed responsibility for the attack.
The group said they killed more than 30 people and wounded more than 40 others.
