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Al Shabaab insurgents attack hotel in central Somalia


    MOGADISHU (Reuters) - Explosions and gunfire were heard on Thursday at a hotel in central Somalia used by Somali soldiers and Djiboutian peacekeepers working for the African Union (AMISOM), residents said.

    Militant group Al Shabaab said it was behind the attack.

    "Our well-armed Mujahideen in similar uniform entered Hotel Amalow in Bulobarde again. They are carrying out the operations, shootings," Sheikh Abdiasis Abu Musab, al Shabaab's spokesman for military operation told Reuters.

    Shopkeeper Farah Noor told Reuters from the town of Bulobarde that al Shabaab fighters had hurled several grenades at the gate of the hotel then gone inside and started shooting.

    "We don't know of any casualties. The place is now surrounded by many AMISOM and Somali forces," he said.

    (Reporting by Abdi Sheikh and Feisal Omar; Writing by George Obulutsa; Editing by Louise Ireland)