At least 15 people were killed and another 20 were injured after Islamist militants attacked a popular hotel in the Somali capital of Mogadishu, trapping government officials inside and setting off a protracted siege as government troops battled them inside, Reuters reported. Troops exchanged gunfire with the Al-Shabab militants as the battle stretched over 12 hours at the Hotel Maka Al Mukaram, with Al-Shabab gunmen commandeering the third and fourth floors before government troops managed to secure the hotel, The Associated Press reported. "At least 15 people died including Somalia's ambassador to Geneva, and at least 20 others were wounded," Colonel Farah Aden, a senior police officer at the scene, told Reuters. "Those who died include civilians, hotel guards and government soldiers." Al-Shabab was pushed out of the capital by African peacekeeping forces in 2011, but has waged a series of gun and grenade attacks, looking to overthrow the government and impose its strict version of Shariah law on the country.
