article_snippet: An Al-Shabaab spokesman, Sheikh Abdiaziz Abu Musab, told CNN that the group was behind the attack at the the Makka Al Mukarama hotel in Mogadishu.
article_snippet: An Al-Shabaab spokesman, Sheikh Abdiaziz Abu Musab said Al-Shabaab fighters were conducting an operation at Hotel against what An Al-Shabaab spokesman, Sheikh Abdiaziz Abu Musab said were spies and government officials.
article_snippet: Al-Shabaab has been active in Somalia for years.
article_snippet: Initially Al-Shabaab goal was implementing a stricter form of Islamic law, or Sharia, by warring against the Somali government.
article_snippet: Al-Shabaab has since shifted Al-Shabaab focus to launching terror attacks in Somalia and beyond.