On Tuesday, gunmen (from the Al-Shabaab)launched an assault on a hotel in a central Somali town, specifically targeting a gathering of local elders and government officials. Witnesses and family members informed the media that the attackers subsequently besieged the hotel.
Dahir Amin Jesow, a federal lawmaker from Beledweyne, the capital of the Hiraan region, reported that at least four individuals had lost their lives in the attack. Following the initial strike, government forces were engaged in efforts to dislodge al Shabaab fighters, some of whom had been killed in nearby alleys, according to Jesow.
The Islamist militant group al Shabaab claimed responsibility for the attack, stating in a release that they had killed more than ten people.
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Abdullahi Fidow, a clan elder from Beledweyne, shared that the meeting at the hotel was meant to strategize on countering al Shabaab in the region. “I was supposed to attend the meeting but got delayed due to a family matter. The explosions occurred before I arrived at the hotel,” he recounted.
Al Qaeda-linked al Shabaab frequently carries out bombings and gun attacks in Somalia, a fragile Horn of Africa nation, in its efforts to topple the government and establish its own rule based on a strict interpretation of Islamic Sharia law.
“We first heard a huge blast followed by gunfire, then another blast was heard,” said Ali Suleiman, a shopkeeper who witnessed the attack.
Parts of the Qahira Hotel were reduced to rubble as government troops and gunmen exchanged fire, Suleiman added. Halima Nur, a witness living near the hotel, said gunfire could be heard intermittently as the siege continued.
About Al-Shabaab:
Harakat al-Shabaab al-Mujahideen, commonly known as al-Shabaab or the Islamic Emirate of Somalia, is a transnational Salafi Jihadist military and political organization based in Somalia and active elsewhere in East Africa. It is actively involved in the ongoing Somali Civil War as an Islamist group, regularly invoking takfir to rationalize its terrorist attacks on Somali civilians and government forces. Allied to the militant pan-Islamist organization al-Qaeda since 2012, it has also forged ties with al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, and al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.
Source: The EastAfrican
