NAIROBI, Kenya – Militants stormed a large hotel in the capital of Somalia on Sunday night, officials said, raising fears of mounting violence in the Horn of Africa country, which faces a fiercely contested election season and the withdrawal of American troops.
The attack in Mogadishu, attributed to Shabab, an extremist group, took place at the Afrik Hotel, which is on the road to the city’s largest international airport and is a popular meeting place for politicians, lawmakers and members of the security services.
Images and video shared on social networks showed the smoke rising in the blue sky. Heavy shots and explosions were heard near the hotel, according to Ismael Mukhtar Omar, spokesman for the Somali Ministry of Information.
Authorities said the Shabab, which is Al Qaeda’s most powerful ally in Africa and has wreaked havoc across East Africa, carried out the attack, which began at around 5 pm. Security forces continued to confront them inside the hotel on Sunday night. Somali police spokesman Sadiq Adan Ali said in a statement that most of the people at the hotel had been evacuated. He also confirmed the deaths of nine people, including five civilians and four militants, as well as dozens of wounded.
Abdulkadir Adan, the founder of Aamin Ambulance, Mogadishu’s only free ambulance service, said in a text message that his team removed the bodies of two people killed in the attack and wounded 11 others at the scene of the violence.
Mohamed Nur Galal, a former military general, was killed in the attack, Omar confirmed in a post on Twitter. Among those rescued they were senior officials from the federal and regional government along with security officials, he added.
The attack came just weeks before a crucial parliamentary and presidential election that was plagued by disputes over how to conduct the vote properly, creating an impasse that risks delaying the vote and pushing the government beyond its constitutional term limit.
The divergences, involving the federal and regional governments and opposition parties, alarmed the United Nations, the United States, the European Union and African states, which called on the various parties “to resolve the remaining electoral implementation issues in order to be credible and inclusive elections to proceed. “
The elections were scheduled for February 8, but that timetable seems unattainable now. President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed has called regional leaders will meet starting Monday to deal with the electoral crisis.
Tensions over the elections surfaced last week, following the onset of strong internal strife between Somali forces and those in southern Jubaland. Somali authorities attributed the violence to groups supported by neighboring Kenya, allegations that authorities in Nairobi denied. Somalia cut diplomatic relations with Kenya after accusing it of meddling in its internal affairs.
Somalia is facing a series of other crises, including the coronavirus pandemic, swarms of desert locusts that are destroying crops and the displacement of tens of thousands of people by seasonal floods at the end of last year.
The militant group Shabab also remains a threat, targeting civilians, government officials and peacekeepers, as well as attacking restaurants, hotels and other establishments.
The al Qaeda group also has financial muscle, as it raises millions of dollars in fees and payments to finance its operations, according to a report by the United Nations Security Council last year. The group has been moving that money through Somalia’s banking system and is investing in local businesses and real estate.
Former President Trump, in the last days of his term, announced an abrupt withdrawal of 700 American soldiers from the country, leading observers to fear that the withdrawal would encourage the Shabab and lead them to carry out more attacks against the weak, but internationally supported government.
Hussein Mohamed contributed reporting from Mogadishu, Somalia.