An attack by al-Shabaab on a Mogadishu hotel was underway on Friday evening, June 9, showing the ability of radical Islamists to continue striking in the Somali capital.

Al-Shabaab, which claimed responsibility for the attack, saying it targeted a place frequented by the authorities, attacked "a hotel on Lido Beach", south of Mogadishu, the government said in a statement.

In the evening, gunshots were still heard and ambulances were seen next to the hotel, an AFP journalist found. "Security forces rescued many people from the building and the operation is still ongoing," he added.

"I was near the Pearl Beach restaurant (on Lido Beach) when a loud explosion happened in front of the building. I managed to escape, but then there was heavy fire and security forces rushed into the area," witness Abdirahim Ali, a witness to the attack, told AFP.

"The restaurant was full of people because it was recently renovated," said Yaasin Nur, another witness, who said he was "worried" about two of his colleagues who were on the scene and "no longer answer their phones".

Disaster in the south

Hours earlier, 22 people, including at least two children, were killed in the explosion of unexploded ordnance in Somalia about 120 kilometers south of the capital Mogadishu, the district deputy commissioner said Friday.

"There was a disaster near Qoryooley, innocent children were killed in an explosion caused by mortar shells," the official, Abdi Ahmed Ali, told a news conference.

The Deputy Commissioner did not specify where the munitions came from, or when they were placed or landed on site.

Reprisal

In August 2020, al-Shabaab launched a major attack on the Elite, another hotel on Lido Beach, killing ten civilians and a policeman. It took security forces four hours to regain control of the facility.

Affiliated with Al-Qaeda, these Islamists who demand the establishment of Sharia law in the country, have been fighting the federal government supported by the international community for more than fifteen years.

Driven out of the country's main cities in 2011-2012, they remain firmly established in large rural areas. Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamoud declared "all-out war" on them, and launched a military offensive in September, supported in particular by US airstrikes.

But al-Shabaab continues to carry out bloody retaliatory attacks, underscoring its ability to strike in the heart of Somali cities and military installations.

On May 26, 2023, they attacked a base held by Ugandan soldiers of the African Union Force in Somalia (Atmis) in the south of the country, killing at least 54 soldiers.

On 29 October 2022, two car bombs exploded in Mogadishu, killing 121 people and injuring 333, the deadliest attack in five years in the country also affected by a historic drought.

A triple bombing in central Beledweyne also killed 30 people, including local officials, in early October and at least 21 Mogadishu hotel guests were killed during a 30-hour siege in August.

The siege had raised questions about how Islamist militants managed to reach the tightly guarded heart of Mogadishu's administrative district undetected.

In a report to the UN Security Council in February, Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said 2022 had been the deadliest year for civilians in Somalia since 2017, largely because of al-Shabaab attacks.

With AFP

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