MOGADISHU:Islamist gunmen killed 26 people, including Kenyans, Americans, a Briton andTanzanians, when they stormed a hotel in Somalia's southern port city ofKismayo, a regional state president said yesterday, the deadliest day in thecity since insurgents were driven out in 2012. A car bomb exploded at the hotelwhere local elders and lawmakers were having a meeting on Friday night, andthen three gunmen stormed in, police said. It took 11 hours before securityforces ended the overnight attack, police officer Major Mohamed Abdi toldReuters.
The dead includeda presidential candidate for August's regional elections, Jubbaland statepresident Ahmed Mohamed Madobe said in a statement. At least two journalistsand a UN agency staff member were also reported to have been killed.Al-Qaeda-linked Islamist group al Shabaab, which is trying to topple Somalia'sweak UN-backed government, immediately claimed responsibility for the attack.Abdiasis Abu Musab, the group's military operation spokesman said yesterdaythey had killed 30 people and four of its fighters were also dead.
Al Shabaab andgovernment officials tend to give differing casualty numbers for attacks.Regional president Madobe said that three Kenyans, one Briton, two Americansand three Tanzanians were among those killed. "Among the dead was also aJubbaland presidential candidate named Shuuriye. Four militants attacked thehotel. One of them was the suicide car bomber, two were shot dead and one was capturedalive by Jubbaland security forces," he said.
He said 56 peoplewere wounded in the attack, including two Chinese citizens. Police had saidearlier all the attackers had been killed. Kismayo resident Osman Nur toldReuters that the explosion had destroyed huge parts of the hotel and nearbybusinesses and security forces were deployed all over the city. Anotheranguished resident said she had lost relatives in the attack.
"I have beenlooking for the whereabouts of my nephew who worked at the hotel. I got hisdead body this morning and have just buried him," Halima Nur, a mother offour, told Reuters by phone. "And this afternoon I will attend the burialof other relatives." Jubbaland's minister of planning, Just Aw Hersi,confirmed the deaths of several prominent Somalis on Twitter. He said some ofthe foreigners also held dual Somali citizenship. "We admit, we areheartbroken by their sudden violent deaths. But rest assured, we are also asmad as hell because of it," he tweeted.
Naming the dead
The Somaliaoffice of the UN's International Organization for Migration said one of itslocal staff members, Abdifatah Mohamed, was among those killed while SADOSomalia, a local non-governmental organisation, said its executive directorAbdullahi Isse Abdulle had died in the attack. Two journalists were among thedead; Somali-Canadian Hodan Naleyah, the founder of Integration TV, and MohamedSahal Omar, a reporter for SBC TV in Kismayo.
Jubbalandpresident Madobe said Jama Fariid, Naleyah's husband, had also been killed."Through her work as a journalist, Hodan highlighted the community'spositive stories and contributions in Canada. She became a voice for many. Wemourn her loss deeply, and all others killed in the #KismayoAttack," AhmedHussen, Canada's Immigration minister, said on Twitter.
Al Shabaab wasforced out of Mogadishu in 2011 and has since lost most of its otherstrongholds. It was driven out of Kismayo in 2012 by Kenyan forces supporting aregional militia headed by Madobe. The city's port had been a major source ofrevenue for the group from taxes, charcoal exports and levies on arms and otherillegal imports. Kismayo is the commercial capital of Jubbaland, a region ofsouthern Somalia still partly controlled by al Shabaab.
The group remainsa major security threat, with fighters frequently carrying out bombings inSomalia and neighboring Kenya, whose troops form part of the AfricanUnion-mandated peacekeeping force that helps defend the Somali government.Somalia is scheduled to have parliamentary elections this month andpresidential elections next month. But relations between the central governmentand its federal states have sometimes been rocky amid arguments over power andresources. - Reuters