Bombing in Somalia hotel, increase in death toll to alienate citizens

October 28, Saturday witnessed yet another suicide bombing outside a popular hotel in Somalia’s capital city of Mogadishu, police said.

The attack has wounded more than 30 and at least 25 were killed in the blast. Captain Mohamed Hussein said 30 people, including a government minister, were rescued from the Nasa-Hablod hotel as heavy gunfire continued in the standoff between extremists and security forces. Three of the five attackers were killed, Hussein said.

 Two weeks prior, Somalia was attacked, where more than 350 people were killed in a massive truck bombing.

The extremist group, Al Shabab quickly claimed responsibility for Saturday’s attack.

A survivor of the bombing reported that the Al Shabab was seen entering the hotel dressed as heavily armed military men. Many were killed in the attack; a mother and 3 children, including a baby were shot in the head, a senior Somali police colonel, a former lawmaker and a former government minister.

Captain Mohamed Hussain reported that troops regained control of the Nasa-Hablod hotel on Sunday morning, having captured two attackers alive. Experts have said the death toll in the earlier bombing was so high that the group hesitated to alienate Somali citizens.

Since the blast two weeks ago, President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed has visited regional countries to seek more support for the fight against the extremist group, vowing a “state of war.” He also faces the challenge of pulling together regional powers inside his long-fractured country, where the federal government is only now trying to assert itself beyond Mogadishu and other major cities.

A 22,000-strong multinational African Union force in Somalia is expected to withdraw its forces and hand over the country’s security to the Somali military by the end of 2020. US military officials and others in recent months have expressed concern that Somali forces are not yet ready.

The US military also has stepped up military efforts against Al Shabab this year in Somalia, carrying out nearly 20 drone strikes, as the global war on extremism moves deeper into the African continent.