On Sunday, a powerful car bomb explosion outside a hotel in central Somalia killed at least five people, police and witnesses reported, in an attack claimed by militants allied with al-Qaeda.
The blast has left 14 others injured and destroyed buildings adjacent to the hotel in the city of Jowhar, about 90 kilometers north of the capital, Mogadishu.
The Police noted that a car packed with explosives rammed the outer wall of the Nur Dob Hotel, which is frequented by state lawmakers and other local officials.
A police officer in Jowhar told AFP that the attack "killed five civilians, including women who work in the hotel and security guards."
"14 other people were wounded, some of whom were inside buildings not close to the hotel," he added.
Al-Qaeda-linked Somalia's al-Shabab claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement posted on a pro-militant website.
Somali Prime Minister Hamza Abdi Barre condemned the attack and sent his condolences to the victims' families.
Al-Shabab has been waging a deadly insurgency in Somalia for over a decade and remains capable of executing major attacks despite a long-running African Union operation to degrade the terrorists.
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