Five attackers from the terrorist group Al Shabab stormed a hotel in a heavily fortified area near Somalia’s presidential palace on Thursday evening, engaging security forces in sustained fighting for about 12 hours that previously left three people dead and 27 – including members of parliament – injured According to Somali officials, the militants were eventually killed.

The attack underscores Al Shabab’s continued ability to carry out attacks on a key target in the capital despite an aggressive counteroffensive by the Somali government. supported by the US military.

President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud promised to eliminate the group through fighting it military, ideologically and financially when he came to power in mid-2022.

Militants from Al Shabab, a Qaeda-linked group, stormed the SYL Hotel in central Mogadishu after 9:30 p.m. local time, a police spokesman, Kasim Ahmed Roble, said on Friday. Video material transmitted Local television showed mangled cars and widespread destruction near the hotel entrance, while debris and blood covered the hotel’s interior floors.

“It is a disappointment for the Somali people that there was an explosion in the safest place in Somalia, so close to the presidential palace,” Osman Mohamed, a 25-year-old shopkeeper in Mogadishu, said on Friday. “This is a harsh reality and we hope President Hassan Sheikh will remedy the situation.”

The Shabab have been carrying out attacks in Somalia for more than 15 years, fighting to overthrow the Western-backed government and establish a state in line with their own interpretation of Islam. African Union peacekeepers, who have deterred Al Shabab for years, are expected to leave by December.

Al Shabab has attacked the SYL Hotel several times Officials say dozens of people have died over the years.

Located in a heavily guarded area, the hotel is frequented by lawmakers, businessmen and clan elders. Officers at several security checkpoints regularly check documents and vehicles and even ask for identification from passers-by.

Mr. Roble did not immediately explain how the Shabab fighters passed through those security barriers to reach the hotel.

“We are still investigating how things happened,” he said.

Three soldiers were killed in the attack, Mr. Roble said in a news conference. The 27 injured included three deputies, nine police officers and 15 civilians, he said.

According to officials and experts, Mr. Mohamud’s government was able to gain some advantages over the group by driving them out of villages and towns in central Somalia and targeting their economic networks.

In addition, the government has tightened security in the capital in recent months, limiting the group’s ability to carry out massive attacks like those in late 2022 killed more than 100 peoplemany of them students.

Although the first phase of the offensive was successful, Somali and American officials say there have been rains, floods and other logistical challenges delayed the second stage of the counteroffensive.

In a sign of the group’s resilience, Shabab and Somali forces have waged heavy fighting in central Somalia in recent weeks, and Somali police announced this month that they were doing so conducted an operation in which 140 mortars were seized Belonging to the group in the capital Mogadishu. Also the group confiscated Officials said he flew on a United Nations helicopter in January and took six passengers hostage, including four Ukrainians.

This week the US Treasury Department imposed Sanctions against 16 individuals and companies in Kenya, Somalia, Cyprus, Uganda and the United Arab Emirates who allegedly helped launder the group’s $100 million annual sales.

Hussein Mohamed Contribution to reporting from Mogadishu, Somalia.