Toll in Somalia hotel attack climbs to 26

The toll rose to 26 in Friday's terror attack at a hotel here while 56 others were injured, Jubaland state president Ahmed Madobe said on Saturday.

The attack began when a car bomb was detonated at the entrance of Asasey Hotel, situated 500 km south of capital Mogadishu. Four terrorists then stormed inside the building's premises and encountered with the security forces for 12 hours, CNN quoted Colonel Salah Osman as saying, a police officer who was part of the rescue operation.

Osman said that the terrorists were shot dead while fighting inside the hotel while the suicide bomber was killed when the explosives went off in the car.

Madobe informed that three Kenyans, three Tanzanians, two Americans, one Canadian and one British were killed in the attack.

Two journalists, Hodan Nalayeh and Mohamed Sahal Omar also lost their lives in the deadly assault.

Nalayeh, a prominent Somali-Canadian journalist and YouTube star, was critically injured during the attack and was rushed to a hospital but succumbed to her injuries later.

On the other hand, Omar, who worked for the Puntland-based Somali Broadcasting Corporation (SBC), was shot dead while trying to take pictures of the terrorists inside the hotel.

Terror outfit Al-Shabaab has claimed the responsibility for the attack, which has been condemned by Somalia's Prime Minister Hassan Ali Khayre.

The terror organisation claimed that it targetted Jubaland state ministers, regional and federal lawmakers, along with candidates in an upcoming election at the hotel.