Car bomb kills five at Somalia hotel

MOGADISHU: A powerful car bomb killed at least five people on Sunday outside a popular hotel in central Somalia, police and witnesses said, in an attack claimed by militants aligned with al-Qaeda.

The blast injured 14 others and destroyed not just the hotel but adjacent buildings in Jowhar about 90-km north of Somalia’s capital Mogadishu. Police said the attackers rammed a vehicle packed with explosives into the outer wall of the Nur-doob hotel, popular with state lawmakers and other local officials.

"They have killed five civilians, among them women working in the hotel and security guards," said Mohamed Ali, a police officer in Jowhar, told AFP. "Fourteen other people were wounded, some of them inside buildings not even close to the hotel." Al-Shabaab, a Somalia-based group tied to al-Qaeda, claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement posted on a pro-militant website.