Al-Shabab attacks hotel in Somalia’s Mogadishu: State media
Several people were injured in Friday night’s attack in one of the capital’s most popular districts.
The al-Shabab armed group has attacked a hotel in the Somali capital Mogadishu, the state news agency said, as security forces on the ground try to “neutralize” the fighters.
The attack took place Friday evening at the popular upscale Pearl Restaurant, on the capital’s Lido beach, and injured at least seven people, the capital’s ambulance service said.
“Security forces are currently conducting an operation to neutralize Al-Shabab militants who attacked civilians at a hotel on Lido Beach in Mogadishu,” the Somali National News Agency wrote on Twitter.
“Many civilians have been rescued from the scene and the operation is underway.”
Security forces are currently conducting an operation to neutralize #AlShabaab militants who attacked civilians in a hotel on Lido beach in #Mogadishu. Many civilians have been rescued from the scene and the operation is underway. Stay tuned for more information. pic.twitter.com/Juqfo6Vyka
— SONNA (@SONNALIVE) June 9, 2023
Al-Shabab, which is affiliated with al-Qaeda, has claimed responsibility for the attack.
Hussein Mohamed, a waiter at another nearby restaurant, told Reuters news agency he heard a blast followed by gunfire as the attack began.
“The entire area has been cordoned off by troops,” he told Reuters.
Abdikadir Abdirahman, the director of Aamin Ambulance Services, said they had received seven people injured at the hotel so far.
“We’re still here for service,” he said.
“The mujahideen managed to enter Pearl Beach and are still in full control,” the group said in a statement.
Lido Beach is one of Mogadishu’s most popular areas and is busy on Friday evenings as Somalis enjoy visiting local coffee shops and ice cream parlors on weekends.
The attacks came just days after Al-Shabab fighters killed 54 Ugandan peacekeepers in an attack on an African Union base in the southern town of Bulo Marer last month.
Persistent attacks
Al-Shabab has been driven out of Somalia’s main towns and cities, but has retained power in large parts of the countryside and has continued to launch attacks against security and civilian targets, including in the capital.
Hotels have often been targeted in the past because they tend to house high-ranking Somali and foreign officials.
The rebels launched a large-scale attack on a hotel on Lido Beach in 2020, killing 10 civilians and a police officer.
It took security forces four hours to regain control of the site.
The latest attack has exposed security concerns in the Horn of Africa country as it struggles to emerge from decades of conflict.
Last year, Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud launched an “all-out war” against al-Shabab, rallying Somalis to flush out members of the group he described as “bed bugs”.
His comments came after 21 people were killed and 117 others injured in an August 2022 Al-Shabab siege of a hotel in Mogadishu that lasted 30 hours.