NAIROBI– At least 25 people have been killed by a truck bomb targeting a hotel near Somali presidential palace in the capital Mogadishu Tuesday, police said.
Somali media reported that the attack struck SYL hotel, opposite the hilltop state house where a security meeting by government officials was scheduled to take place.
The hotel has come under militants’ attack before.
A spokesman for Somalia’s security agencies told reporters that 12 have been killed in the attack, however, local media have put the death toll at 25, with more than 30 others including ministers and MPs were injured.
Mogadishu has been hit by attacks by the al-Shabab group which is waging a deadly insurgency across the country in recent years.
The country which has formed a central government for the first time since 1991 is gearing up for a presidential election which is set to take place on October 30.
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