Somali Militants Storm Hotel, Kill 31

Islamist militants wearing army uniforms stormed a hotel in Mogadishu Tuesday and killed at least 31 people, including six members of the Somali parliament. Al Shabab militants have been fighting to topple the crippled Western-backed government there for three years. Al Shabab said it attacked the Muna Hotel in order to kill government workers. It’s one of the few places in the Somali capital that the government continues to control, and some military police were able to defend themselves against the gunmen until security forces arrived. "The blood of the dead is leaking out of the hotel," a Somali official said. The African Union had sent 6,300 peacekeepers, mostly from Uganda, to help control the violence; in response, al Shabab sent suicide bombers to blow themselves up in Uganda’s capital, Kampala, during the World Cup, killing 76 people.