Somalia hit again by Islamist attack that leaves 13 dead so far

First modification: 08/20/2022 – 14:23

“The security forces continue to neutralize the terrorists who have been cordoned off inside a room in the hotel building. Most of the people were rescued, but at least eight civilians have been confirmed dead,” Commander Mohamed Abdikadir said. . However, hours after the announcement the death toll rose to 13.

Jihadis from this al Qaeda-linked group stormed Mogadishu’s popular Hayat hotel on Friday night with gunfire and explosions and have been holed up there ever since.

According to Abdikadir, security forces rescued dozens of people, including children who were trapped in the building. Until the early hours of the morning, the siege was still underway and shots and explosions could be heard sporadically around the hotel.

This is the main attack in Mogadishu since the election in May of the new Somali president Hassan Sheikh Mohamud.

mortar shells

Al Shabab, a group linked to the al Qaeda network that has been fighting the government of this Horn of Africa country for 15 years, claimed responsibility for the attack and said on Saturday it still controlled the hotel.

“A group of shabab attackers forced their way into the Hayat Hotel in Mogadishu and fighters fired randomly inside,” the organization said on a related website.

A police spokesman, Abdifatah Adan Hasan, said that the jihadists entered the hotel after a strong explosion caused by a suicide squad. Witnesses at the scene recalled a second subsequent explosion outside, causing casualties among rescuers and members of the security forces, as well as among civilians fleeing the attack.

Dozens of people gathered around the hotel, usually frequented by government officials and the army, to try to find out what had happened with family or friends.

On Saturday, another attack left 20 injured, including children, by a salvo of mortar shells, which hit the Hamar Jajab neighborhood, located on the seafront, district commissioner Mucawiye Muddey told AFP.

US bombing

These attacks come after the United States announced on Wednesday that it had killed 13 al-Shabab militiamen who were fighting against Somali regular forces around Teedaan, some 300 km north of Mogadishu and close to the Ethiopian border, in an air assault.

Last week, the US military had reported another attack that killed four militants from the group in the same region. President Joe Biden decided in May to restore the US military presence in Somalia, reversing the decision of his predecessor Donald Trump, who had ordered the withdrawal of troops.

Jihadists have carried out attacks along the Ethiopian-Eritrean border in recent weeks, raising questions about a possible change in strategy.

The new president of Somalia, Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, said last month that the militants could not be defeated with the sole recourse of military force, but he specified that it was not yet time to face a negotiation.

Al Shabab militants were expelled from Mogadishu in 2011 by an African Union force, but still control large swaths of territory and are capable of deadly action against civilian and military targets.