Somali gunmen kill 15 MPs

Somalia's al Qaeda-linked Islamist group, al Shabaab, said it had carried out Tuesday's attack on a hotel in the capital Mogadishu.

Somalia's al Qaeda-linked Islamist group, al Shabaab, said it had carried out Tuesday's attack on a hotel in the capital Mogadishu.

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"Our Mujahideen forces carried out an operation at Hotel Muna near Yoobsan junction, which accommodates members of parliament and intelligence officers, and our martyrs succeeded in killing 60 to 70 government officers, MPs, intelligence officers and civil servants," spokesman Sheikh Ali Mohamud Rage told reporters.

Somali gunmen disguised in army uniforms stormed a hotel popular with government officials on Tuesday. The Information Ministry said 31 people, including 15 MPs had been killed in the attack. A hotel worker who escaped said that a suicide bomber had blown himself up.

Hardline al Shabaab Islamists linked to Al Qaeda have waged a three-year insurgency against the fragile government.

The assault underscored the failure of the government and more than 6,300 African Union peacekeepers to bring order to Somalia after nearly two decades of anarchy, making it a continual source of instability.

Militants flee Yemen

Suspected Al-Qaeda fighters were fleeing the embattled city of Loder in southern Yemen following gunbattles and an assault by government forces in which dozens have died, the interior ministry said on Tuesday. "Four Al Qaeda members were killed while the rest fled," a ministry statement said.