Somalia: several civilians killed in an attack by Shebab in a hotel in Mogadishu

Published on: 08/20/2022 – 07:26 An attack by radical Shebab Islamists in a hotel in Mogadishu killed at least eight people on Friday. It is the largest attack in the Somali capital since the election of new Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud in May. At least eight civilians were killed in clashes between radical Al-Shabaab Islamists, who attacked a Mogadishu hotel in the Somali capital on Friday August 19, and security forces attempting to neutralize them. “Security forces continued to neutralize terrorists who were surrounded in a room in the hotel building, most people have been rescued but at least eight civilians are at this stage confirmed dead,” Somali security official Mohamed Abdikadir said on Saturday. Jihadists stormed the popular Hayat hotel on Friday night in an exchange of gunfire and explosions with security forces. “Security forces rescued dozens of civilians, including children, who were trapped in the building,” Mohamed Abdikadir added. and loud explosions were heard in the area. Somali police spokesman Abdifatah Adan Hassan told reporters the blast was caused by a suicide bomber. Witnesses said a second blast took place minutes after the first, killing the rescuers, members of the security forces and civilians who rushed to the hotel after the first explosion. Islamist group linked to Al-Qaeda, the shebab, which has been engaged in an insurgency against the Somali federal government for 15 years, claimed responsibility for the attack. “A group of Al-Shabaab assailants forced their way into the Hayat hotel in Mogadishu, the fighters are firing at random inside the hotel,” the group confirmed in a brief statement on a pro website. -shebab. This is the largest attack in Mogadishu since the election of the new Somali president, Hassan Sheikh Mohamoud, in May. they remain established in large rural areas. In recent months, they have intensified their attacks. On Wednesday, the American army announced that it had killed in an airstrike 13 Al-Shabaab militiamen who were attacking soldiers of the Somali regular forces in a remote area of ​​this country of the Horn of the l ‘Africa. The strike was carried out on Sunday near Teedaan, about 300 km north of the capital Mogadishu, according to a statement from the US military command in Africa (Africom). The United States has carried out several airstrikes on militants in recent weeks. For their part, the Shebab also carried out attacks on the border between Somalia and Ethiopia, raising concerns about the stability in this border region. Somalia’s new president Hassan Sheikh Mohamoud said last month that a military approach is insufficient to end Al-Shabaab’s violent insurgency, stressing that his government would only negotiate with the jihadist group when the time is deemed appropriate. August, Prime Minister Hamza Abdi Barre announced the appointment of a former leader of the radical Islamists who became a politician, as Minister of Religious Affairs in the Somali government. Muktar Robow, alias Abou Mansour, had publicly defected in August 2017 from the movement he had helped to found. With AFP