Somali security forces stormed a hotel in the capital late on Monday ending a siege by Al Shabaab militants following a nearly day-long battle in which at least nine people were killed, police said.
Gunfire crackled from inside the building as the special forces fought the group more than 12 hours after it stormed the building in the centre of Mogadishu.
The assault underscores the continuing ability of the Al Qaeda-allied outfit to stage deadly attacks with sometimes high casualties inside the city even as President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud's government presses an offensive against them.
"The operation at the hotel Rosa has been concluded," Sadik Aden Ali, a police spokesperson said.
Ali said the militants had killed eight civilians and later added that one soldier had also died in the hotel siege.
Five soldiers were also injured in the gunfight, he said, adding that six Al Shabaab fighters had been involved in the attack on the hotel.
"One blew himself up and five were shot dead by the security forces," Ali said, adding that 60 civilians had been rescued.
U.S. Attorney General Pamela Bondi directed federal prosecutors to seek the death penalty for Luigi Mangione, the man accused of shooting and killing the CEO of UnitedHealth Group's insurance division Brian Thompson in New York last year.
Aid groups in Myanmar on Tuesday described scenes of devastation and desperation after an earthquake that killed more than 2,700 people, stressing an urgent need for food, water and shelter and warning the window to find survivors was fast closing.
The Trump administration has fired staff at U.S. health agencies including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Food and Drug Administration and National Institutes of Health, as it embarked on its plan to cut 10,000 health jobs, according to sources familiar with the situation and a health official.
The Israeli military said it killed a Hezbollah operative in an airstrike on Beirut's southern suburbs early on Tuesday, while three other people were reported killed and seven injured, further testing a shaky four-month ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah.
President His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan today offered his condolences to His Highness Sheikh Saud bin Rashid Al Mualla, Supreme Council Member and Ruler of Umm Al Quwain, on the death of his mother, Sheikha Hessa bint Humaid bin Abdul Rahman Al Shamsi.
The UAE’s National Ambulance Service handled 22,903 cases across the country in the first quarter of this year, according to the National Guard Command.
H.H. Sheikh Saud bin Rashid Al Mualla, Supreme Council Member and Ruler of Umm Al Qaiwain, received condolences on the passing of his mother, the late Sheikha Hessa bint Hamid bin Abdulrahman Al Shamsi, at the condolence majlis held at the Emiri Court.