Shabab gunmen push through heavy security to lay siege to hotel in Somalia
Five attackers from the terrorist group Al Shabab stormed a hotel in a heavily fortified area close to Somalia’s presidential palace on Thursday evening, with security forces engaged in sustained fighting for about 12 hours, killing three people and wounding 27 – including members of parliament. According to Somali officials, the militants were eventually killed.
The attack underlined Al Shabab’s continued ability to carry out attacks on a key target in the capital, despite an aggressive counter-offensive by the Somali government. supported by the US military.
President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud promised to eliminate the group by fighting the military, ideologically and financially, when he came to power in mid-2022.
The militants from Al Shabab, a Qaeda-linked group, stormed the SYL Hotel in central Mogadishu after 9:30 pm local time, police spokesman Kasim Ahmed Roble said on Friday. Video footage broadcast local television showed mangled cars and widespread destruction at the hotel entrance, while debris and blood covered the floors of the hotel inside.
“It is a disappointment to the Somali people that an explosion has occurred in the safest place in Somalia, so close to the presidential palace,” Osman Mohamed, a 25-year-old shopkeeper in Mogadishu, said on Friday. “This is a harsh reality and we hope that President Hassan Sheikh will resolve this.”
The Shabab have been waging attacks in Somalia for more than 15 years, fighting to overthrow the Western-backed government and establish a state that aligns with their own interpretation of Islam. African Union peacekeepers, who have helped deter Al Shabab for years, are expected to withdraw in December.
Al-Shabaab did that attacked the SYL hotel several times Officials say dozens of people have been killed over the years.
Located in a heavily guarded area, the hotel is frequented by lawmakers, businessmen and clan elders. Officers at multiple security checkpoints regularly inspect documents and vehicles and even ask passers-by for ID cards.
Mr. Roble did not immediately explain how the Shabab militants broke through security barriers to reach the hotel.
“We are still investigating how everything could have happened,” he says.
Three soldiers were killed in the attack, Roble said at a news conference. The 27 injured included three lawmakers, nine police officers and 15 civilians, he said.
Mohamud’s government has made some gains against the group, expelling them from towns and cities in central Somalia and attacking their economic networks, according to officials and experts.
The government has also tightened security in the capital in recent months, limiting the group’s ability to carry out mass attacks such as those in late 2022. more than 100 people killedmany of whom are students.
Although the first phase of the offensive was successful, Somali and U.S. officials say rain, flooding and other logistical challenges delayed the second phase of the counter-offensive.
In a sign of the group’s resilience, Shabab and Somali forces have been engaged in heavy fighting in central Somalia in recent weeks, and Somali police said this month that they carried out an operation in which 140 mortars were seized belong to the group in the capital Mogadishu. The group too confiscated a United Nations helicopter in January and took six passengers hostage, including four Ukrainians, according to officials.
This week, the US Treasury Department sanctioned 16 people and companies in Kenya, Somalia, Cyprus, Uganda and the United Arab Emirates who they say helped launder the group’s $100 million Annual sales.
Hussein Mohammed contributed reporting from Mogadishu, Somalia.