Violence is once again heavily mourning Somalia. The security forces put an end to the siege of a hotel in Mogadishu on Saturday evening by Shebab jihadists, which lasted around thirty hours and caused more than a dozen civilian victims. The establishment was destroyed by a bombardment aimed at eliminating the attackers who had entrenched themselves there and must now be rid of all the explosives which could have been placed there.
“The security forces have now ended the siege and the gunmen are dead, we have not had any shots from the building in the past hour,” a senior security official announced around midnight, without specifying the exact date. number of victims among the civilians and among the assailants. According to other Somali officials, at least 13 civilians were killed early in the attack by these al-Qaeda-affiliated fighters.
A new president since June
Scores of people were trapped when the assault began and although officials said dozens were rescued, including children, it is unclear how many remained inside. .
It is the largest attack in Mogadishu since Somalia’s new president, Hassan Sheikh Mohamoud, took office in June, after months of political instability. The Shebab, who have been engaged in an insurrection against the Somali federal government for 15 years, claimed responsibility for this operation “in the Hayat hotel in Mogadishu”.
Another district targeted by many shells
A rain of shells also fell on Saturday in another district of the capital, Hamar Jajab, injuring 20 including children, said Commissioner Mucawiye Muddey. These shots were not immediately claimed. According to the director of Mogadishu’s main hospital, Dr Mohamed Abdirahman Jama, at least 40 people were being treated after being injured in the two weekend attacks.
Al-Shabaab were driven out of Somalia’s main cities, including Mogadishu in 2011, but 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 13 Shebab militiamen who were attacking soldiers of the Somali regular forces in a remote area of the country.
The new president, however, considered that a military approach is insufficient to put an end to this insurrection. At the beginning of August, Prime Minister Hamza Abdi Barre announced the appointment of a former Shebab leader, who became a politician, to the post of Minister of Religious Affairs. Muktar Robow, alias Abu Mansour, publicly defected in August 2017 from the movement he helped found.