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MOGADISHU, Somalia – Four car bombs by Islamic extremists exploded outside a hotel in the capital, Mogadishu, killing at least 20 people and injuring 17, the police said.
After the three explosions in front of the hotel, a fourth explosion took place while doctors were trying to rescue the wounded.
The suicide bombings exploded near the wall of the hotel Sahafi, located in front of the criminal investigation department of the Somali police, said Captain Mohamed Hussein.
Some of the victims were burned to the point of no longer being recognized when a car bomb exploded near a minibus, he said.
Somali security forces shot and killed four gunmen who tried to cross a hole in the hotel wall but failed to enter, he said.
"Although they have failed to access the hotel, the explosions outside the hotel have killed many people," Hussein said.
"The street was full of people and cars, there were corpses everywhere," said Hussein Nur, a shopkeeper slightly injured in the leg by shrapnel. "Shots also killed several people."
Somali Islamist extremist rebels, al-Shabab, have claimed responsibility for the bombs, according to the group's Adalus radio station.
Among the dead was the director of the hotel Sahafi, whose father was the owner before being killed during an attack on al-Shabab in 2015, said police captain Hussein.
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Guled reported in Nairobi, Kenya.
