Accessibility links

Breaking News

Car Bombs Kill 8 Outside Major Mogadishu Hotel


Somali police officers assess the scene of an explosion outside the Jazira hotel in Mogadishu, Jan. 1, 2014.
Somali police officers assess the scene of an explosion outside the Jazira hotel in Mogadishu, Jan. 1, 2014.
Three car bombs have killed at least eight people outside a major hotel used by foreigners in Mogadishu, Somalia.

Government security forces and African Union peacekeepers sealed off the streets around the Jazeera hotel Wednesday. Two bombs went off in quick succession near the hotel gate. The third blast came a bit later.

Witnesses say they heard gunfire after the first explosion.

No one has claimed responsibility for the bombings. The Somali militant Islamist group al-Shabab has carried out similar attacks in Mogadishu over the past two years.

The Jazeera hotel is near the Mogadishu airport and the offices of the U.N. Development Program, which al-Shabab attacked last year.

Some information was provided by Reuters, AP and AFP.
  • 16x9 Image

    VOA News

    The Voice of America provides news and information in more than 40 languages to an estimated weekly audience of over 326 million people. Stories with the VOA News byline are the work of multiple VOA journalists and may contain information from wire service reports.

XS
SM
MD
LG