The attack by Islamic extremists, which began when gunmen stormed a hotel in the capital and left 21 people dead and over 110 injured, was put an end by Somali authorities on Sunday. The fighters who stormed Mogadishu’s Hayat Hotel on Friday evening in an assault that began with loud explosions took more than 30 hours for Somali forces to subdue.
The incident marks the first significant terrorist assault in Mogadishu since Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, Somalia’s new president, assumed office in May.
According to police commissioner Abdi Hassan Hijar, the siege ended around midnight.
He claimed that numerous civilians, including women and children, who were trapped in the hotel during the attack were rescued by the security forces.
Dr. Ali Haji Adam, the health minister, reported 21 fatalities and 117 injuries, with at least 15 of those suffering from serious injuries. He stated that the death toll might increase because some victims might not have been taken to hospitals.
Al-Shabab, an organisation affiliated with al Qaeda, which frequently targets locations frequented by government officials, claimed responsibility for the attack.
The federal government and outside organisations that support it are opposed by Al-Shabab. Al-Shabab continues to be the deadliest Islamic extremist organisation in Africa and the largest danger to the country’s fragile democratic order.
Police have not yet provided a thorough account of how the incident took place, and it is still unknown how many shooters actually entered the hotel. Two vehicle bombs that were aimed at the hotel’s front gate and barrier, according to a police officer who spoke to Reuters, were used to break into the building on Friday night.
The hotel’s manager, Ismail Abdi, told The Associated Press in the early hours of Sunday that security personnel were still attempting to evacuate the area. At 9 a.m., the sound of gunshots stopped. On Sunday morning, onlookers gathered in front of the severely damaged hotel to see the spectacle.
Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed, the former president of Somalia, refrained from engaging al-Shabab in any significant conflict. However, Mohamud has declared that his government would launch an attack against the thousands of militants in the organisation with the support of re-entering American soldiers.
Through its Andalus radio station, Al-Shabab said that the hotel bombing was in retaliation for Mohamud’s promise to drive the organisation out of Somalia.
Antonio Guterres, secretary-general of the United Nations, denounced the incident and said that the organisation supports the Somalian people “in their struggle against terrorism and their march towards peace.”
The Associated Press was informed by Mohamed Abdirahman, the director of Mogadishu’s Madina Hospital, that 40 victims of the incident had been brought there with wounds or injuries. Five patients remain in serious condition in the ICU while nine were discharged after receiving care, he added.
“When the initial bomb and subsequent gunshots were heard, we were drinking tea close to the hotel lobby. I quickly shut the door after running to the ground-floor hotel rooms “Abdullahi Hussein, a witness, said via phone. “The militants immediately ran upstairs and began firing. Until the security personnel came and saved me, I remained in the room.”
He reported seeing “many people laying on the ground outside hotel reception” as he made his way to safety.
Al-Shabab has recently captured significant territory by capitalising on divisions within the Somali security forces as well as conflicts between the regional governments and the leadership in Mogadishu. It continues to pose the largest danger to the nation’s unstable political situation in the Horn of Africa.
Al-Shabab, which was forced to flee Mogadishu in 2011, is steadily making its way back from the rural regions where it fled, despite the presence of African Union forces as well as American drone attacks that are aimed at its militants.
Early in May, insurgents assaulted an AU peacekeeping camp west of Mogadishu, killing numerous Burundian soldiers in the process. The incident happened only a few days before Mohamud was re-elected as president, five years after he had been ousted.