At least 32 people have been killed and dozens injured in a suicide attack at a beach restaurant in the Somali capital Mogadishu on Friday, state media SONNA reported Saturday. Six members of the Somali militant group al-Shabaab targeted the restaurant at the Beach View Hotel using a suicide bomb, according to SONNA.”Security forces neutralized” five of the attackers who carried out the attack on Lido Beach, SONNA reported. It’s unclear if the sixth attacker has been killed as well.Al-Shabaab has claimed responsibility for the attack, saying they were targeting Somali officials and officers, according to the SITE Intelligence Group, which tracks online activity of extremist organizations.This is a developing story and will be updated.
CNN —
At least 32 people have been killed and dozens injured in a suicide attack at a beach restaurant in the Somali capital Mogadishu on Friday, state media SONNA reported Saturday.
Six members of the Somali militant group al-Shabaab targeted the restaurant at the Beach View Hotel using a suicide bomb, according to SONNA.
“Security forces neutralized” five of the attackers who carried out the attack on Lido Beach, SONNA reported. It’s unclear if the sixth attacker has been killed as well.
Al-Shabaab has claimed responsibility for the attack, saying they were targeting Somali officials and officers, according to the SITE Intelligence Group, which tracks online activity of extremist organizations.
A February 13, 2012, file photo shows an armed member of the militant group al-Shabaab at a rally on the outskirts of Mogadishu, Somalia.
AP
Mogadishu — At least four people were killed in an ongoing attack by Al-Shabaab militants who laid siege to a popular hotel in Somalia’s capital Mogadishu overnight, a security agency official told AFP on Monday. Gunfire and explosions could still be heard more than 12 hours after the militants stormed the hotel near the presidential palace in a hail of bullets.
Mohamed Dahir, an official from the national security agency, told AFP the gunmen were holed up in a room at the Villa Rose surrounded by government forces.
“So far we have confirmed the death of four people”, he said, adding that others had been rescued from the besieged venue. “Very soon the situation will return to normal.”
Government officials were among others injured, he added.
The Villa Rose is frequented by parliamentarians and located in a secure central part of the capital just a few blocks from the office of Somalia’s President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud.
Al-Shabaab, a militant group affiliated with al Qaeda that has been trying to overthrow Somalia’s central government for 15 years, claimed responsibility for the attack.
Police said the gunmen rushed into the hotel in Bondhere district at around 8:00 p.m. (noon Eastern) on Sunday and an operation was under way to “eliminate” them.
More than 12 hours later, witnesses near the scene described still hearing loud explosions and gunfire.
“I saw several military vehicles with special forces heading towards the hotel, and a few minutes later, there was heavy gunfire and explosions,” said local witness Mahad Yare.
In a statement late Sunday, the African Union Transition Mission in Somalia (ATMIS), a 20,000-strong military force drawn from across the continent, praised the “swift” security response to the attack.
On its website the Villa Rose describes the hotel as the “most secure lodging arrangement in Mogadishu” with metal detectors and a high perimeter wall.
Al-Shabaab has intensified attacks against civilian and military targets as Somalia’s recently-elected government has pursued a policy of “all-out war” against the Islamists.
The security forces, backed by local militias, ATMIS and U.S. airstrikes, have driven Al-Shabaab from central parts of the country in recent months, but it still holds ground, and as CBS News correspondent Debora Patta has reported, that’s one of the factors complicating efforts to save millions of people at risk of starving to death in Somalia’s drought-ravaged south.
The Somali government’s offensive has also drawn retribution.
On October 29, two cars packed with explosives blew up minutes apart in Mogadishu followed by gunfire, killing at least 121 people and injuring 333 others. It was the deadliest attack in the fragile Horn of Africa nation in five years.
At least 21 people were killed in a siege on a Mogadishu hotel in August that lasted 30 hours before security forces were able to overpower the militants inside.
The United Nations said earlier this month that at least 613 civilians had been killed and 948 injured in violence this year in Somalia, mostly caused by improvised explosive devices (IEDs) attributed to Al-Shabaab. The figures were the highest since 2017 and a more-than 30% rise from last year.
The U.S. considers al-Shabaab one of the al Qaeda network’s most lethal affiliate organizations and has targeted it with dozens of airstrikes. Hundreds of U.S. military personnel returned to the country under orders from President Biden, after being withdrawn by his predecessor Donald Trump.
The al Qaeda linked terror group al-Shabaab has carried out a suicide attack and stormed a central Mogadishu hotel frequented by Somalia’s ministers and members of parliament, Somali police said Sunday.
Al-Shabaab stormed the Villa Rose hotel near Somalia’s presidential palace following a suicide bombing at the gate at 8 p.m. local time (noon ET), according to police.
Capt. Bishar Ahmed confirmed to CNN that a major attack occurred at the hotel, which lies in a heavily protected zone in downtown Mogadishu, where the state house, ministries and a high-security intelligence prison are also located.
Adam Aw Hirsi, the state minister for the environment, said he escaped the attack.
Police have not released details on the number of casualties. Al-Shabaab claimed responsibility for the attack.
Somalia’s armed forces, backed by the United States, have been carrying out a military campaign against the group since August in parts of southern and central Somalia.
In May, US President Joe Biden decided to redeploy troops to Somalia in support of the local government and to counter al-Shabaab. The move reversed a decision by former President Donald Trump to withdraw all US troops from the country.
