At least eight people killed in twin Mogadishu car bombs
The Jazeera hotel in Mogadishu as Amisom (African Union Mission in Somalia) forces stand guard after a bomb exploded where newly elected Somali President Hasan Sheikh Mahmud was staying. A car bomb struck a hotel near a UN compound in Mogadishu on Wednesday and a second blast went off as emergency services rushed in, killing several, police and witnesses said. PHOTO | AFP
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The group said at the time the attack was retaliation for Kenya’s military involvement in Somalia.
Mogadishu, Thursday.At least eight people were killed when a car bomb rammed into one of Mogadishu’s top hotels on Wednesday and a second vehicle exploded as the wounded were being treated.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility but the attack, which also appeared to involve a commando of gunmen, bore all the hallmarks of Somalia’s Al Qaeda-linked Al-Shabaab group.
“A booby-trapped car exploded against hotel Jazeera,” near a United Nations complex, police officer Muhidin Ahmed told AFP. “It appears to be a suicide attack.”
He was not immediately able to provide an accurate casualty toll for the first blast, but a witness spoke of at least five dead.
The second car bomb ripped through the blast scene as ambulances rushed in and Somali soldiers were helping the wounded. “Another car loaded with explosives went off as security forces were trying to assist victims,” police officer Mohamed Warsame said.
“I counted eight bodies, most of them soldiers,” said witness Abdikarim Hassan.
The Jazeera hotel, near the international airport, is one of the seaside capital’s most upmarket and its clientele includes Somali politicians and visiting foreign officials.
Eyewitnesses also reported an intense exchange of gunfire between assailants and security officers between the back-to-back blasts. The attack was similar to others carried out by the Al-Shabaab in Mogadishu, with a first car bomb smashing through the well-guarded gates of a target to let in a suicide commando and sometimes another explosives-laden vehicle.
The Al-Shabaab claimed responsibility for a spectacular September onslaught on an upscale shopping mall in Nairobi that left at least 67 people dead.
The group said at the time the attack was retaliation for Kenya’s military involvement in Somalia.
The Al-Shabaab once controlled most of southern and central Somalia but withdrew from fixed positions in Mogadishu two years ago.
African Union troops -- including large contingents from Uganda, Kenya and Burundi -- have since recaptured every major insurgent bastion and tried to prop up Somalia’s fledgling government forces.
But a string of devastating Al-Shabaab attacks against foreign and government targets have shattered hopes of a rebirth for the war-ravaged capital and demonstrated that the Islamist outfit’s disruptive power was undiminished. (AFP)
