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Global

Somali Islamists say responsible for Mogadishu hotel bombing


    MOGADISHU (Reuters) - The Somali Islamist group al Shabaab claimed responsibility for a bomb attack at the gate of a Mogadishu hotel where Turkish delegates were meeting on Thursday, a day ahead of a visit by their president, Tayyip Erdogan, to the Somali capital.

    "We attacked (the) hotel and killed several of the Somali police officers who were meeting there," Sheikh Abdiasis Abu Musab, Al shabaab's military operation spokesman, told Reuters. The statement made no mention of Erdogan's visit.

    No members of a Turkish delegation were harmed in the attack, according to Turkish Foreign Ministry official, while a Reuters witness saw two police officers lying dead in front of the destroyed gate.

    (Reporting by Feisal Omar; Writing by Edith Honan; Editing by Alison Williams)