security forces in somalia say they re sweeping a hotel in the capital, mogadishu, for explosives after ending a 30 hour siege by islamist militants but there has no independent confirmation. al shabab militants stormed the hayat hotel on friday. our reporter, emily brown, gave me the latest on the story. we know that dozens of people were evacuated from the building, which is said to be popular with both journalists and pop as politicians. the siege lasted for 30 hours with the gunman holding hostages. we have seen some footage which we can show you an inner ear can the gunshots. this is clearly an intense battle for control and it is not known how many people died during the siege and witnesses say at least 20 and witnesses say at least 20 and one of the reported victims is the hotel owner although this has not been confirmed. earlier security official said 13 had been killed. the militant group alsa bad said some of the fighters managed to escape al shabab but a somal
unfortunately not. al shabaab remains very potent and has been increasing its potency somalia for a number of years. in fact, last year the mission of the african union was supposed to end, and there was significant concern that if that mission ended, al shabaab would be able to take over much of southern somalia as well as mogadishu altogether. so the mission was changed to a new mandate and a new name, but the reality is that the somali security forces remain weak and played by multiple problems while al shabaab s potency has been increasing. 0ur active have al shabab been, specifically in recent years? al shabab has been very active, essentially since 2016 or 2017, al shabab has been on the offensive and dominating the operational tempo in somalia. neither the somali army or the african union forces