The death toll from an al-Shabaab car bombing near an upmarket hotel in
Mogadishu has risen to 17, Somali security ministry spokesman Abdiasis Xildhibaan said Friday.
Shortly after the attack on Thursday evening, Xildhibaan had placed the death toll at 14, while police said
some 20 people were injured.
Al-Qaeda-linked Islamist militant group al-Shabaab claimed the suicide attack with an announcement on pro-insurgent
Radio Andalus, adding that they had targeted the Hotel Wehliye because a government meeting was taking place
there at the time.
There are several other important government compounds near the hotel, including the parliament building.
Al-Shabaab, which is seeking to establish an Islamist state in Somalia, regularly launches attacks on government
buildings, hotels and restaurants in the volatile nation in the Horn of Africa.
In October, more than 500 people were killed when a suicide bomber detonated a truck full of explosives in the
capital.
Since that attack, the deadliest ever in Somalia, President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed has vowed to eradicate
al-Shabaab.
There has also been an unprecedented outpouring of public anger, with tens of thousands taking to the streets
in 2017 calling for the militant group to be wiped out.(dpa/NAN)