Somalia sacks security chiefs as attack toll hits 27

 The death toll from a deadly weekend attack on a hotel in Mogadishu has risen to 27, the Somali government said today, announcing the dismissal of the country's police and intelligence chiefs.

The move came after Al-Qaeda aligned Shabaab gunmen staged coordinated bomb attacks outside a hotel in the north of the Somali capital yesterday before storming the building.

The latest toll was given by Security Minister Mohamed Abukar Islow at a cabinet meeting at which ministers approved the dismissal of intelligence agency boss Abdillahi Mohamed Sanbalooshe and police chief Abdihakim Dahir Said.

The two were "fired for the purpose of serious accountability," said a statement read by Information Minister Abdirahman Omar Osman after the meeting.

The sackings come two weeks after Somalia suffered its deadliest-ever terrorist attack in which at least 358 people were killed in a huge truck bombing in Mogadishu.

Osman said five people had so far been arrested in connection with the October 14 attack.