"Security forces have ended the siege now and the gunmen are dead," says a security official, after Al Shabab terrorists stormed Hayat Hotel, leaving some 20 people dead and sparking a 30-hour standoff with government forces.
The militant group, which launches regular attacks to undermine Somalia's government supported by the UN and African Union peacekeeping troops, has claimed to kill 24 soldiers.
Fifty years ago today in Somalia, Mohammed Siad Barre’s military coup ended Somalia’s brief democratic period, which paved the way for civil war when the regime eventually collapsed. His contested legacy divides Somalis to this day.
Somalia's national theatre, ,which opened eight years after independence from Britain, has been mired in turmoil for decades - as has the country.
In a separate attack, at least two soldiers were killed when a roadside bomb, planted by Al Shabab, struck a car carrying government troops in Central Shabelle outside of the capital.
Gunfire followed the attack on the Posh Hotel, the only venue with a discotheque in the capital, Mogadishu.
At least six people were killed and about ten injured in a car bomb attack next to an Italian cafe on a key thoroughfare in the centre of Somalia's capital Mogadishu.
Incumbent President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud conceded defeat after two rounds of voting Wednesday, and former prime minister Mohamed Abdullahi Farmajo became the new president and quickly took the oath of office.
Lawmakers are casting their ballot at the capital's airport to elect a president through a clan-based voting system. But local watchdogs say the election is rife with corruption.
The summit marks the first of its kind since the country plunged into conflict with the toppling of the President Siad Barre in 1991.
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