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The incident occurred in a busy hotel in the state of Jubaland. The terrorist group Al Shabab, linked to Al Qaeda, claimed responsibility for the events. The perpetrators were shot by the police. The country has been experiencing a climate of violence and instability since the early 1990s.
A car bomb exploded this Sunday in a hotel frequented by politicians and businessmen. The events, which left at least nine dead and some 47 injured, occurred in the city of Kismayo, the commercial capital of Jubalad state. The attack began with the explosion of a car bomb, followed by a shootout in which the three perpetrators were killed.
“The culprits were four, a suicide bomber and three militants, and they were shot to death in the operation” in response, according to Jubalad State Security Minister Yusuf Hussein Osman. The Somali National News Agency (SONNA) reported that the security forces did not suffer any losses in the operation.
Local media reported that the Al Shabab group, linked to Al Qaeda, claimed responsibility for the attack. According to Hussein Osman, “the hotel where the explosion occurred was close to a school, so many students were injured.”
War against Al Shabab
And it is that the Somali army has been waging a war against the terrorist group Al Shabab for a long time. Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, the nation’s president, declared a “total war” to “eliminate” him last August, in the context of the takeover of another hotel in which at least 21 people died.
There are several operations that were carried out with the support of the United States against the fundamentalists, who are trying to establish a conservative Islamic State to overthrow the current leadership of the country backed by the international community.
In recent weeks, the security forces claim to have made progress against Al Shabab, in an alliance with local self-defense groups. However, the group is still active and adding more deaths to the thousands it has caused in Somalia in actions that have already been going on for a decade.
A similar attack
In 2019, a similar attack occurred at another hotel in the area in which at least 26 people were killed, including Americans and a Briton, among other nationalities. At that time, a presidential candidate also died.
Despite controlling central and southern parts of the country, mainly rural areas, Al Shabab also carries out attacks against neighboring nations such as Ethiopia and Kenya.
According to the EFE news agency, Somalia has lived in chaos since the early 1990s. The overthrow of the dictator who ruled at the time put the territory in the hands of Islamist militias, without an effective government, and arms dealers.
With EFE and Reuters
