Somali President Safe After Hotel Bombing

Somalia’s new president is safe after two suicide bombers attacked a Mogadishu hotel where he was speaking.

Somalia’s new president is safe after two suicide bombers attacked a Mogadishu hotel where he was speaking.

VOA correspondent Gabe Joselow, who was at the site of the attack, says two bombs detonated outside the Jazeera Hotel Wednesday as Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud and Kenyan Foreign Minister Samson Ongeri talked to reporters inside.

Militant group al-Shabab claimed responsibility for the bombings in a Twitter message about two hours after the attacks.

VOA Somali service reporter Seynab Abukar said the first bomb was a suicide blast at the gate to the hotel complex, and the second was a car bomb. She also said AU troops opened fire on several suspected attackers who tried to get in the hotel.

Several people were killed, including the two bombers, and several others injured.