Death toll in Somalia hotel blast rises to 26, police say

A man who was wounded in a suicide car bomb attack on a hotel is being carried by Somali Red Cross workers and civilians for treatment in Mogadishu, Somalia, Wednesday, Jan 25, 2017. Gunmen from Somalia’s violent Islamic extremist rebels fought their way into a hotel in the Somali capital after a suicide car bomb exploded at its gates, a police officer said Wednesday. (Photo by FARAH ABDI WARSAMEH/AP)

MOGADISHU, Somalia — A Somali police official says the death toll in Wednesday’s attack on a hotel in the capital, Mogadishu, has risen to 26.

Capt. Mohamed Hussein says 52 others were injured in the assault that began with a suicide car bomb exploding at the hotel gate. He says some of the victims who suffered horrific wounds died in hospitals.

Islamic extremist group al-Shabab has claimed responsibility for the attack.

The homegrown extremist group is also announcing that it has killed three Somalis it says collaborated with the CIA and Kenyan and Somali governments.

Pro-al-Shabab websites say the three men were accused of helping in carrying out airstrikes against al-Shabab officials.

The sites say the men were killed in a public square in Yaqbarawe, a town in the southwest. –Abdi Guled