At least 13 people were killed in Somalia’s capital Sunday when a car bomb exploded outside a hotel that hosts the Chinese and Egyptian embassies.
Somali militant group Al-Shabab has claimed responsibility for the blast that targeted the Hotel Jazeera near Mogadishu International Airport. The hotel is often used by members of parliament and journalists in addition to foreign diplomats.
The death toll comes from ambulance services who say they also took more than 20 wounded people to hospitals. There was no immediate word on the nationalities of those injured or killed.
A Somali intelligence agent, speaking on condition of anonymity, told VOA that a Toyota Dyna truck filled with explosives went off outside the hotel Sunday afternoon.
One side of the hotel has completely collapsed, and witnesses say there may be people trapped under the rubble.
A pro-Shabab website said the attack was carried out by a suicide bomber and was in retaliation for the recent deaths of militant fighters in Somalia’s Bay and Bakool regions by Ethiopian troops.
Ethiopia is one of several East African nations who have troops in Somalia fighting Al-Shabab. The group has lost most of the territory it once controlled but carries out periodic high-profile attacks.
In April, Al-Shabab militants killed 148 people at Garissa University College in eastern Kenya.
Sunday’s attack occurred as U.S. President Barack Obama wrapped up a visit to Kenya and traveled to Ethiopia.
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