Jeddah/Mogadishu
The General Secretariat of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in a statement today condemned roundly the terrorist attack that targeted a hotel in the Somali capital Mogadishu, which resulted in a number of deaths and injuries.
The Secretary General, Dr. Yousef Al-Othaimeen, affirmed that the OIC stands in full support of and solidarity with Somalia in its battle against terrorism, reaffirming the Organization’s outright rejection of terrorism, violence and extremism in all their forms and manifestations.
He offered his condolences to the bereaved families of the victims, the government and people of Somalia, wishing prompt recovery to the wounded.
Militants detonated a car bomb in front of an upscale hotel in the Somali capital afternoon, then stormed the beachside property. State security forces engaged in a four-hour standoff before killing two attackers who had been holding those inside hostage.
A spokesman for the country’s Information Ministry said the attackers, who belonged to the militant group al-Shabab, killed 11 people. The ministry said 205 others were rescued from the Elite Hotel on Lido Beach.
Abdulkadir Adan, director of Aamin Ambulance, a private company that is often the first at the scenes of attacks, said 32 injured people had been transported to hospitals, some in critical condition. “We lost one of our colleagues, named Abdirizak Abdi,” said Ismael Omar, the ministry spokesman. “The blast was huge and followed by gunshots.” He said later that a Defense Ministry employee, Dahir Ali Gawl, was also killed.
Omar said there were at least five assailants, adding that two were killed at the hotel’s gate and that two had made it inside, armed with automatic rifles. One died in the initial explosion. Abdullahi Mohamed Nor, the hotel’s owner and a member of Parliament, wrote on his personal Facebook account: “May Allah have mercy upon those who perished in the attack which terrorists carried out at the Elite Hotel. I was at the hotel when the attack happened, may Allah give a quick recovery for the wounded people. I am safe and sound.”
Sieges of hotels are a hallmark tactic of al-Shabab, which issued a statement claiming Sunday’s attack. The al-Qaeda-affiliated armed group controls vast parts of rural Somalia and regularly stages attacks in Somali cities.
In March 2019, al-Shabab fighters held another Mogadishu hotel for 20 hours, killing 25 people and wounding dozens. —Agencies
