By Gary Raynaldo DIPLOMATIC TIMES
At least 53 persons were killed when suicide bombers and gunmen attacked a hotel last Friday in the Somalia capital city Mogadishu. Attacks were reported on the popular Sahafi Hotel, near the country’s criminal investigations department as two car bombs followed by a scooter bomb exploded in the street outside the hotel. Many victims were taken to hospitals, with some suffering from gunshot wounds, according to reports. Islamist group al Shabaab, linked to al Qaeda, claimed responsibility for the bombing attacks. Somalia’s security forces shot dead a group of Islamists who tried to storm a popular hotel after detonating car bombs outside it, media reports.
“Most of these people were civilians who were passing by the area when the attack occurred,” Abdulahi Ahmed, a Somali security official, said.
US airstrikes fail to weaken al-Shabaab’s grip on Somalia: UK Guardian
An unprecedented number of US airstrikes against al-Shabaabin Somalia has caused significant casualties without seriously weakening the Islamic extremist group, research suggests, as reported by UK Guardian. The US has conducted 29 airstrikes in Somalia against al-Shabaab this year. In 2017, the US conducted 27 strikes against the al-Qaida affiliate, which has fought for almost a decade to impose its rigorous version of Islamic law on the country. Four further strikes last year were directed at a small group of fighters loyal to Islamic State in the east African country.
Somalia Drenched In Blood From Multiple Deadly Terror Attacks
Somalians call it their own “9-11”. Two truck bombs blasted the capital city of Mogadishu on Oct. 14, 2017, reports npr.org. The first detonated outside a hotel at a busy junction lined with restaurants and government offices. A fuel tanker next to the bomb greatly increased the denotation’s intensity, burning many bodies beyond recognition and destroying entire buildings. The second blast struck the district of Medina just two hours later. According to The Zobe Rescue Committee, created by the Somali government in the wake of the attack, some 512 people were killed, 312 were wounded, making it Somalia’s deadliest terrorist attack ever.
Somalia: “the most dangerous place in the world.”
Approximately 500,000 people are said to have been killed inSomalia since the start of the civil war in 1991. In 1991, Somalia was described by the US Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance as “the worst humanitarian disaster in the world.” –The Center For Justice and Accountability. In 2009, Foreign Policy Magazine called it “the most dangerous place in the world.”
“An important feature of the past two decades has been the emergence of a variety of Islamist movements seeking to establish an Islamic state in Somalia. These range from traditionalist sufi orders, to progressive Islamist movements, inspired groups like Al Itihad Al Islamiya pursuing a regional or global agenda. “
Mark Bradbury and Sally Healy- ‘Whose peace is it anyway? Connecting Somali and international peacemaking’.
US airstrikes fail to weaken al-Shabaab’s grip on Somalia: UK Guardian
