Islamist attack on a hotel in Somalia: nine dead and dozens injured

Published on: 23/10/2022 – 23:39 Shebab Islamists attacked a hotel in the port city of Kismayo, Somalia, on Sunday, killing at least nine people and injuring 47. Nine people were killed and 47 injured in an attack carried out on Sunday, October 23 for more than six hours by radical Al-Shabaab Islamists in a hotel in the city of Kismayo, in southern Somalia. This large port city is the last to be hit by the resurgence of violent actions by Shebab in recent months, which has notably bloodied the capital Mogadishu and the center of the country. The attack, which began around 12:45 p.m. three assailants inside the hotel were shot dead by Jubaland state security forces. Jubaland Security Minister Yusuf Hussein Osman announced the death toll at nine people and 47 others injured , “among which were students who were leaving a nearby school at the time of the attack”. “The security forces ended the siege in a timely manner,” he said. Car bomb The attack was carried out by four men: a first who carried out a suicide attack, followed by the intrusion of three men armed in the hotel. According to Yusuf Hussein Osman, the attack began with a suicide bomber “who blew himself up”. Witnesses told AFP of a car bomb. “A suicide bomber drove a vehicle to the entrance of the hotel before armed men entered the building. Shooting started inside,” said one of them, named Farhan Hassan. The Shebab claimed responsibility for the attack, claiming to target a hotel where members of the Jubaland administration were meeting. They carried out a similar attack on local authorities in a hotel in the city in July 2019, killing at least 26 people and injuring 56. The Islamist group, linked to Al-Qaeda, has been fighting the federal government supported by the international community since 2007. . It was driven out of the main cities – including the capital Mogadishu in 2011 – but remains firmly established in large rural areas, particularly in the south of the country. Capital of Jubaland located 500 kilometers south of Mogadishu, Kismayo was a stronghold of Shebab , which derived solid income from its port activity before the city was taken over in 2012 by local militias supported by Kenyan forces. With AFP