On August 21 (local time), a 30-hour-long hotel siege by al-Shabaab terrorists reportedly ended in Somalia. The security commander was quoted in a tweet by the AFP news agency who said, “The gunmen are dead.” On Saturday, August 20, al-Shabaab terrorists stormed into Hayat Hotel located in the Somali capital Mogadishu. By the time the siege ended and the terrorists were neutralized by the security forces, 40 people had lost their lives, and over 70 were injured.
According to the Somali Guardian, former officials, state employees, and traditional leaders were killed in the attack. The Head of the Somali Intelligence and Security Agency for Mogadishu and senior Police personnel were among those who got injured in the attack. Troops reportedly used explosives inside the hotel against the terrorists.
Terrorist organization al-Shabaab’s spokesman Abu Musab had said in a statement on Friday that over 20 people, including officials, were killed in the attack. Notably, this was the first major attack since the election of Hassan Sheikh Mohamud’s reelection as President in May this year. A week after becoming the president again, he had vowed to end al-Shabaab by launching an all-out militaristic, economic and ideological offensive against the terror group. Al-Shabaab has been active in Somalia for the last 15 years.
The terrorist attack on Hotel Hayat in Somalia
On August 19, Islamist terrorists of Al-Shabab attacked Mogadishu’s Hayat Hotel in Somalia. The terrorists executed an explosion outside the hotel first and then entered the building with guns, explosives, and other weapons.
The terrorist group executed the attack on Friday at a hotel in Somalia’s capital which is often visited by government officials. Al-Shabab, which is the affiliate of a terrorist organization named Al-Qaeda, is in a long-running conflict with the federal government.