Three killed in Al-Shabab siege at Mogadishu hotel: police

MOGADISHU: Three people were killed in an hours-long siege by Al-Shabab militants at a popular hotel near the presidential palace in the Somali capital Mogadishu, police said Friday.
Armed fighters had stormed the SYL hotel in a hail of bullets late on Thursday before security forces announced Friday they had brought the situation under control after more than 13 hours.
“Three people died in the attack and 27 others including 18 civilians and nine soldiers were wounded,” Somali police spokesman Col. Qasim Ahmed Roble told a press conference, adding that the injury toll included three lawmakers.
Security forces also killed five assailants in a gunbattle, he added.
“The situation at the hotel is back to normal now,” Roble said.
The attack on the SYL hotel — which has been targeted several times in the past — occurred at the start of the holy Muslim month of Ramadan.
It broke a relative lull in violence by the Al-Qaeda-linked jihadist group, demonstrating its continued ability to strike despite a major military offensive against the militants.
“Several gunmen forced their way into the building after destroying the perimeter wall with a heavy explosion,” security officer Ahmed Dahir told AFP.
Witnesses described hearing the assailants shoot indiscriminately.
“I don’t know about the casualties but there were many people inside when the attack started,” said Hassan Nur, who escaped by scaling a wall.
Other witnesses said police arrived at the hotel within minutes of the attack, triggering a fierce gunbattle.
Abdullahi Hassan, who was at a nearby house, said the officers arrived in multiple vehicles and that ambulances carried away wounded people.
The same hotel has been hit by Al-Shabab several times, most recently in 2019 when five people were killed.
The SYL is close to the Villa Somalia government complex, a high-security area that includes the presidential palace, the prime minister’s office and ministry buildings.
“It is a highly significant attack that shatters a sense of calm in Mogadishu that has developed in recent months following some security reforms,” said Omar Mahmood, senior analyst at the International Crisis Group (ICG), noting that in the past Al-Shabab assaults had increased during Ramadan.
“It also serves as a signal from Al-Shabab that despite much heralded efforts by this government to weaken them, the group remains active and resilient, and even able to hit the government close to home.”
The jihadists have been waging war against the federal government for more than 16 years and have often targeted hotels, which tend to host high-ranking Somali and foreign officials.
Although Al-Shabab was driven out of the capital by an African Union force, it retains a strong presence in rural Somalia and has carried out numerous attacks against political, security and civilian targets.
The beleaguered central government launched a major offensive against the Islamists in August 2022, joining forces with local clan militias.
The army and militias known as “macawisley” have retaken swathes of territory in central Somalia in an operation backed by the AU mission known as ATMIS and US air strikes.
But the offensive has suffered setbacks, with Al-Shabab earlier this week claiming that it had taken control of multiple locations in the center of the country.
President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud met defense officials on Thursday at a “strategic meeting” to establish a plan to reclaim the lost territory, Somali national news agency SONNA reported.
“The president commended the valiant efforts of Somali forces and emphasized the government’s unwavering resolve to eradicate terrorism,” it said.
In January, Al-Shabab took a number of people hostage after a UN helicopter carrying nine passengers made an emergency landing in its territory.
In June last year, six civilians were killed in a six-hour siege at a beachside hotel in Mogadishu.
And in August 2022, 21 people were killed and more than 100 injured in a 30-hour siege on Mogadishu’s Hayat Hotel.
In October 2022, 100 people lost their lives in twin car bombings in Mogadishu, the deadliest strike since Mohamud took office in May of that year.
Thursday’s attack comes days after the US slapped sanctions on 16 individuals and entities across the Horn of Africa and the Middle East that it accused of laundering money for Al-Shabab.