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Tag: Mogadishu

  • Roadside explosions in Somali capital Mogadishu kill 5, official says

    Roadside explosions in Somali capital Mogadishu kill 5, official says

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    MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) — Roadside explosions in the Somali capital killed five people and wounded eight others Saturday, according to a city official.

    An explosive device had been planted at a spot in a street where many young people had gathered to take photos, Abdullahi Sheikh Abdirahman, district commissioner of Mogadishu’s Kahda district, told reporters.

    “I saw several people lying on the street minutes after the first explosion, and when rescuers came to assist, another blast happeneed, causing most of the casualties,” witness Abdisamad Osman told The Associated Press.

    No group immediately claimed responsibility for Saturday’s attack. But the Islamic extremist group al-Shabab, which opposes Somalia’s federal government, frequently carries out such assaults.

    The attack comes just weeks after a similar explosion at a beach where more than 30 people were killed and over 60 others wounded. That attack, one of the deadliest in recent months, raised concern over the increasing frequency of violent attacks in Mogadishu.

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  • At least 32 killed after suicide bombers target Somali capital

    At least 32 killed after suicide bombers target Somali capital

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    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.

    This is a developing story and will be updated.

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  • US citizen, Somali convicted in journalist’s hostage-taking

    US citizen, Somali convicted in journalist’s hostage-taking

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    NEW YORK (AP) — Two men have been convicted of helping Somali pirates who kidnapped a U.S. journalist for ransom and held him for 2 1/2 years, prosecutors said.

    Mohamed Tahlil Mohamed and Abdi Yusuf Hassan were convicted by a federal court jury in New York on Feb. 24 of hostage-taking, conspiracy, providing material support for acts of terrorism and other crimes that carry potential life sentences.

    Michael Scott Moore, a German-American journalist, was abducted in January 2012 in Galkayo, Somalia, 400 miles (643.7 kilometers) northeast of the capital of Mogadishu. He was working as a freelancer for the German publication Spiegel Online and researching a book about piracy.

    The kidnappers demanded $20 million in ransom and at one point released a video showing Moore surrounded by masked kidnappers who pointed a machine gun and rocket-propelled grenade at him.

    Moore was freed in September 2014. Moore has said his family raised $1.6 million for his release.

    “Tahlil, a Somali Army officer, left his post to take command of the pirates holding Moore captive and obtained the machine guns and grenade launchers used to threaten and hold Moore,” U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said in a statement. “Hassan, the Minister of Interior and Security for the province in Somalia where Moore was held hostage, abused his government position and led the pirates’ efforts to extort a massive ransom from Moore’s mother.”

    Hassan, who was born in Mogadishu, is a naturalized U.S. citizen. He was arrested in Minneapolis in 2019 and charged with federal crimes.

    Details of Tahlil’s arrest haven’t been disclosed but he was jailed in New York City in 2018.

    In a 2018 book Moore wrote about his captivity, he said that Tahlil got in touch with him from Somalia by Facebook two months after the journalist’s release and included a photograph. Moore recognized him as the “”boss” of his guards.

    The men began a correspondence.

    “I hope u are fine,” Tahlil said, according to the book. “The pirates who held u hostage killed each other over group vendetta and money issues.”

    According to the criminal complaint reported by the New York Times, that was consistent with reports that some pirates were killed in a dispute over division of Moore’s ransom.

    Hassan and Tahlil were scheduled to be sentenced on Sept. 6.

    Attorneys for the two men were emailed for comment by The Associated Press after hours on Monday but the messages weren’t immediately returned.

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  • Al-Shabaab terror attack targets Mogadishu hotel frequented by Somali lawmakers, police say | CNN

    Al-Shabaab terror attack targets Mogadishu hotel frequented by Somali lawmakers, police say | CNN

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    Mogadishu
    CNN
     — 

    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.

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  • Al-Shabab extremist group attacks hotel in Somali capital

    Al-Shabab extremist group attacks hotel in Somali capital

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    MOGADISHU, Somalia — Somali security forces were attempting to flush out armed assailants from a hotel in the Somali capital, a police spokesman said Sunday, after the extremist group al-Shabab claimed responsibility for the attack. There has been no immediate word of any casualties.

    Al-Shabab said in a broadcast on its own radio frequency Sunday that said its fighters attacked the hotel Villa Rose, which has a restaurant popular with government and security officials.

    Scores of people were rescued from the hotel and security forces have launched an operation to remove the assailants, police spokesman Sadik Dodishe told state media.

    Abdi Hassan, a government worker who lives near the hotel, told the Associated Press that he believes several government officials were inside the hotel when the attack started. Some were seen jumping the perimeter wall to safety while others were rescued, he said.

    The hotel isn’t far from the presidential palace in central Mogadishu, where a blast was heard, followed by gunfire.

    Such militant attacks are common in Mogadishu and other parts of the Horn of Africa nation.

    The latest attack comes amid a new, high-profile offensive by the Somali government against al-Shabab, which still controls large parts of central and southern Somalia.

    Extremist fighters loyal to the group have responded by killing prominent clan leaders in an apparent effort to dissuade support for the government offensive, and attacks on public places frequented by government officials and others persist.

    Hotels and restaurants are frequently targeted, as are military bases for government troops and foreign peacekeepers.

    Last month at least 120 people were killed in two car bombings at a busy junction in Mogadishu. Al-Shabab, which doesn’t usually claim responsibility when its assaults result in a high civilian death toll, carried out that attack, the deadliest since a similar attack at the same spot killed more than 500 five years ago.

    Al-Shabab opposes Somalia’s federal government, which is backed by African Union peacekeepers, and seeks to take power and enforce a strict version of Sharia law.

    The United States has described al-Shabab as one of al-Qaida’s deadliest organizations and targeted it with scores of airstrikes in recent years. Hundreds of U.S. military personnel have returned to the country after former president Donald Trump withdrew them.

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  • Somalia car bombs death toll up to 120, some still missing

    Somalia car bombs death toll up to 120, some still missing

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    MOGADISHU, Somalia — The death toll from twin car bombings in Somalia’s capital has reached 120 and could rise further because some people are still missing, the country’s health minister said Monday.

    Ali Haji said more than 320 others were wounded in Saturday’s midday explosions at a busy junction in Mogadishu, and over 150 of them are still being treated at hospitals.

    It was Somalia’s deadliest attack since a truck bombing at the same spot killed more than 500 people five years ago. It is not clear how vehicles loaded with explosives again made it through a city full of checkpoints and constantly on alert for attacks.

    The al-Qaida affiliate al-Shabab has claimed responsibility for the bombings and said it targeted the education ministry, which it accused of turning youth away from Islam.

    Somalia’s government under the recently elected President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud has been engaged in a new offensive against al-Shabab, including efforts to shut down its financial network. The government has said the fight will continue.

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  • Two explosions rock Somalia’s capital, leaving “scores” dead

    Two explosions rock Somalia’s capital, leaving “scores” dead

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    MOGADISHU, Somalia — Two car bombs exploded Saturday at a busy junction in Somalia’s capital near key government offices, leaving “scores of civilian casualties” including children, national police said. The attack came five years after a massive blast at the same location.

    The attack in Mogadishu occurred on a day when the president, prime minister and other senior officials were meeting to discuss combating violent extremism, especially by the al-Qaida-affiliated al-Shabab group that often targets the capital.

    There was no immediate claim of responsibility. Al-Shabab rarely claims attacks with large numbers of civilians killed, as in the 2017 blast.

    An Associated Press journalist at the scene saw “many” bodies and said they appeared to be civilians traveling on public transport. He said the second blast occurred in front of a busy restaurant during lunchtime. The blasts left crushed tuk-tuks and other vehicles in an area of many restaurants and hotels.

    The Aamin ambulance service told the AP they had collected at least 35 wounded. One of the ambulances responding to the attack was destroyed by the second blast, director Abdulkadir Adan added in a tweet.

    “I was 100 meters away when the second blast occurred,” witness Abdirazak Hassan said. “I couldn’t count the bodies on the ground due to the (number of) fatalities.” He said the first blast hit the perimeter wall of the education ministry, where street vendors and money changers were located.

    The Somali Journalists Syndicate, citing colleagues and police, said one journalist was killed and two others wounded by the second blast while rushing to the scene of the first.

    The attack occurred at Zobe junction, which was the scene of a huge al-Shabab truck bombing in 2017 that killed more than 500 people. Police said the new attack occurred at the exact spot as the 2017 one.

    Somalia’s government has been engaged in a high-profile new offensive against the extremist group that the United States has described as one of al-Qaida’s deadliest organizations. President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud has described it as “total war” against the extremists, who control large parts of central and southern Somalia and have been the target of scores of U.S. airstrikes in recent years.

    The extremists have responded by killing prominent clan leaders in an apparent effort to dissuade support for that government offensive.

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  • 8 killed in Somalia as militants attack port city hotel

    8 killed in Somalia as militants attack port city hotel

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    MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) — Eight people were killed after militants stormed a hotel in Somalia’s port city of Kismayo, an attack that started with a suicide bombing Sunday before gunmen forcibly entered and exchanged fire with security forces.

    The Islamic extremist group al-Shabab claimed responsibility for the attack, saying its fighters had penetrated the Tawakal Hotel.

    Security forces from the southern Somali state of Jubaland later ended the siege, killing the gunmen and rescuing scores of people, state media reported.

    There was no official word on casualties, but a doctor at Kismayo Hospital told The Associated Press of eight dead people, four of whom were security personnel.

    At least 41 people were wounded in the attack, the doctor said, speaking on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to divulge such information.

    Journalists were prevented from getting close to the scene of the attack. Footage shared on social media showed ambulances collecting the wounded from outside the hotel in central Kismayo.

    The city is located about 500 kilometers (310 miles) from the Somali capital, Mogadishu.

    The attack began when a car driven by a suicide bomber rammed the entrance gate of the hotel and then exploded, police officer Abshir Omar said by phone. A number of small businesses along the street were destroyed.

    Some government officials and traditional elders were eating lunch in the hotel at the time of the explosion, he said.

    Mohamed Nasi Guled, a senior police official in Jubaland, said three attackers entered the hotel’s premises.

    The hotel is popular as a meeting place for government officials. Al-Shabab is believed to have a strong presence in the areas surrounding Kismayo, the largest city and commercial capital of Jubaland.

    Al-Shabab, which has ties with al-Qaida, regularly carries out attacks in the Horn of Africa nation. Many of the group’s attacks target popular hotels.

    Al-Shabab opposes the Mogadishu-based federal government, which it perceives as a puppet of foreign governments. The group also opposes the presence of foreign troops in Somalia.

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