Al-Shabaab claims responsibility for deadly hotel bombing

A New Year's Day twin car bombing at a hotel in Mogadishu, Somalia killed 11 and injured at least 40 others.

Somali police spokesman General Mohamed Yusuf Omar Madale announced "The death toll has hit 11 people, including three attackers and five security personnel, while the rest were civilians."

The first suicide car bombing detonated Wednesday outside the main gate of the Jazeera Palace Hotel, killing at least four people. The second car bomb exploded shortly afterward, close to the original blast site, and killed at least seven, most of whom were first responders.

Al-Qaida-affiliated militant group Al-Shabaab claimed responsibility and its official spokesman Ali "Dhere" Mahmud Rage announced to the media on Thursday that the bombings were intended to target "senior apostate intelligence officials" believed to be meeting at the Jazeera Palace Hotel.

[CNN] [Harar24]