Somali forces end hotel attack that left 21 dead, 117 hurt

By OMAR FARUK
Associated Press

MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) — Somali authorities have ended a deadly attack by Islamic extremists in which 21 people were killed and 117 more were wounded when gunmen stormed a hotel in the capital. It took Somali forces more than 30 hours to contain the fighters who had stormed Mogadishu’s Hayat Hotel on Friday evening. Police commissioner Abdi Hassan Hijar told reporters Sunday that the siege ended around midnight and that security forces had rescued many civilians trapped at the hotel. The Islamic extremist group al-Shabab, which has ties with al-Qaida, claimed responsibility for the attack. Al-Shabab remains the most lethal Islamic extremist group in Africa and the biggest threat to political stability in the volatile Horn of Africa nation.