MOGADISHU, Somalia — Somali troops ended a 16-hour siege at a hotel in Somalia’s capital on Saturday, during which gunmen killed 15 people, officials said.
The Shabab, a militant Islamist group that routinely strikes government and business sites here in the capital, claimed responsibility for the attack, which also left at least 13 people wounded, Somali officials said.
An elite American-trained counterterrorism unit rescued 50 hostages being held by the gunmen at the Maka al-Mukarama Hotel, said Mohamed Abdi Hayir, the minister of information, tourism and culture.
The five attackers killed 15 people, Mr. Hayir said: Somalia’s ambassador to Switzerland, a consultant for the Somali Central Bank, six civilians, three hotel guards and four government soldiers. All the gunmen were killed, Mr. Hayir added.
The attack began on Friday afternoon around 4 p.m., witnesses said, when a car bomber detonated explosives at a rear gate of the hotel, which is popular with government officials and foreigners. Gunmen quickly overpowered security guards and took control of the hotel before an elite police antiterrorism unit stormed the hotel compound.
Some of the hotel guests managed to escape before the gunmen took over, while others exited through windows.
“I saw a man jumping out of the window of the second floor and he fell to the ground,” said Abdi Omar, another witness. “He was immediately taken by health workers to the hospital.”
The Shabab’s fighters have carried out similar attacks in the upscale Westgate mall in Nairobi, Kenya, and at the United Nations compound in Mogadishu, both in 2013.
In February, 25 people were killed and dozens wounded at the Central Hotel, including government officials, in an attack claimed by the Shabab.
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