At least 12 people, mostly civilians, were killed in clashes between the radical Islamists Al-Shabab and the police in an attack on a hotel frequented by the authorities in Mogadishu, the capital of Somalia. Explosions and firing continued until the early hours of the morning and the operation continued until this Saturday (20) morning.
Terrorists raided the popular Hayat hotel on Friday night (19) with two car bombs and gunfire. Law enforcement surrounded the extremists overnight as dozens of civilians were safely evacuated.
“Security forces continued to neutralize terrorists who were surrounded in a room of the hotel building. Most people were rescued, but at least eight civilians were confirmed dead at this stage,” Mohamed, a Somali security official, said on Saturday. .
“Security forces rescued dozens of civilians, including children, who were trapped in the building,” Abdikadir said.
The attackers are still hiding at the hotel in the early hours of Saturday, and gunshots and loud explosions are occasionally heard in the area. Somali police spokesman Abdifatah Adan Hassan told reporters that the explosion was caused by a suicide bomber.
Eyewitnesses said that a second explosion occurred a few minutes after the first explosion, causing casualties among rescuers, security forces and civilians who flocked to the hotel after the first explosion. This is the biggest attack in Mogadishu since Somalia’s new president, Hassan Cheikh Mohamed, took office in May.
15 years of rebellion
The terrorist organization that claimed responsibility for the action, Al-Shabab, is the arm of Al-Qaeda in the country. The group has been participating in an uprising against the Somali federal government for 15 years.
Shabab spokesman Abdiaziz Abu-Musab told Radio Andalusia on Saturday that his forces continued to control the building and inflicted “heavy losses” on security forces.
Shabab was kicked out of the country’s major cities, including Mogadishu, in 2011, but remains entrenched in large rural areas. They have intensified their attacks in recent months.
American attack
On Wednesday, the US military announced it had killed 13 al-Shabaab militias in an airstrike attacking Somali regular forces in a remote area of the Horn of Africa. The United States has carried out several aerial bombardments against extremists in recent weeks.
In May, US President Joe Biden decided to re-establish a military presence in Somalia to fight Shabab by approving the Pentagon’s request, which found the rotation system decided at the end of Donald Trump’s term as too risky and ineffective.
In recent weeks, Shabab’s attacks on the Somali-Ethiopian border have increased concerns about the stability in this border region. Somalia’s new president, Hassan Sheikh Mohamoud, stressed last month that a military approach is insufficient to end the violent al-Shabaab uprising and that his government will only negotiate with the jihadist group when the time is right.
In early August, Prime Minister Hamza Abdi Barre announced the appointment of a former Islamist-turned-politician leader as Minister of Religious Affairs. Muktar Robow, known as Abu Mansour, publicly left the movement he helped found in August 2017.
With information from AFP and Reuters
source: Noticias
