Somalia: at least eight civilians killed in the attack on a hotel by Al-Shabaab Islamists in Mogadishu – Teller Report

Security forces patrol near the Hayat hotel after an attack by radical Shabab Islamists, in Mogadishu, on August 20, 2022. HASSAN ALI ELMI / AFP At least eight civilians were killed in clashes between radical Shabab Islamists, who have attacked a hotel in Mogadishu in the Somali capital, Friday evening August 19, and the security forces who were trying to neutralize them. “Security forces continued to neutralize the terrorists, who were surrounded in a room in the hotel building, most people were rescued but at least eight civilians are, at this stage, confirmed dead,” he said. said Saturday morning, Mohamed Abdikadir, a Somali security official. Also read: ‘Al-Shabaab is now an organization that funds terrorist groups outside Somalia’ Jihadists stormed the popular Hayat hotel on Friday night, in an exchange of gunfire and explosions with the security forces. “Security forces rescued dozens of civilians, including children who were trapped in the building,” Abdikadir added. Explosion caused by a suicide bomber The attackers were still entrenched in the hotel early Saturday, sporadic gunfire 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 explosion took place a few minutes after the first, causing casualties among rescuers, members of the security forces and civilians who rushed to the hotel after the first explosion. Read also Article reserved for our subscribers Somalia plagued by violence and tension one month before the elections Islamist group linked to Al-Qaida, the Shabab, who have been engaged in an insurrection against the Somali federal government for fifteen years, have claimed the responsibility for the attack. “A group of Chabab assailants forced their way into Hayat hotel in Mogadishu, the fighters are firing randomly inside the hotel,” the group confirmed in a brief statement on a prochabab website. . Al-Shabaab spokesman Abdiaziz Abu Musab told their station, Radio Andalus, on Saturday that his forces still controlled the building and had “inflicted heavy casualties” on the security forces. Biggest attack since presidential election in May This is the biggest attack in the Somali capital since the election of President Hassan Sheikh Mohamoud in May. The Al-Shabaab were driven out of the country’s main cities, including Mogadishu in 2011, but they remain entrenched 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 thirteen Chabab militiamen who were attacking soldiers of the Somali regular forces in a remote area of ​​this country in the Horn of Africa. The strike was carried out on Sunday near Teedaan, about 300 kilometers north of the capital, Mogadishu, according to a statement from the American military command in Africa (Africom). The United States has carried out several airstrikes on militants in recent weeks. In May, the President of the United States, Joe Biden, decided to re-establish the military presence in Somalia to fight the Al-Shabaab there, approving a request from the Pentagon which deemed the rotation system decided by Donald Trump at the beginning of the war to be too risky and ineffective. end of his term. Read also Article reserved for our subscribers Somalia plagued by violence and tension one month before the elections A former Chabab appointed minister In recent weeks, the Chabab have also carried out attacks on the border between Somalia and Ethiopia, sparking concerns about stability in this border region. Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamoud said last month that a military approach was insufficient to end the violent Al-Shabaab insurgency, stressing that his government would only negotiate with the jihadist group when the time was right. timely. In early August, Prime Minister Hamza Abdi Barre announced the appointment of a former leader of the radical Al-Shabaab Islamists, turned 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. Read also: Somalia: attack by Chabab Islamists against an African Union military base Le Monde with AFP