2023-06-10 12:08:13
On the seafront of Mogadishu, the Pearl Beach hotel suffered two assaults in one evening. The first, claimed by Al-Shabaab Islamist fighters, close toAl Qaida, began shortly before 8 p.m. Friday, when seven assailants took control of the hotel. The second came from the police, who had come to dislodge the terroristsand ended around two o’clock in the morning, after exchanges of fire.
“Six civilians died in the attack (…) and ten others were injured. Three courageous members of the security forces also perished,” said the police in a press release, which specifies that 84 people who were in the Pearl Beach hotel have been rescued and are unharmed. The seven assailants were all killed.
“We thought that security had been improving in the city in recent weeks”
Friday evening, witnesses had reported heavy shooting near the establishment Somali. Several ambulances were parked nearby. “I was near the Pearl Beach restaurant when a loud explosion sounded in front of the building,” said a witness, Abdirahim Ali. “I managed to escape, but then there was heavy gunfire and the security forces came in force.” Yaasin Nur, who was nearby, said the hotel’s restaurant “was full of people because it had recently been renovated”.
“The attack in a popular area of Mogadishu is a bit of a shock, given that security was thought to have been improving in the city in recent weeks,” security analyst Omar Mahmood told AFP. East Africa to the International Crisis Group (ICG). “It seems that the Shebab are undertaking a series of attacks to slow down a possible offensive by the government and its allies”. THE shebab have been waging an insurgency against the internationally backed federal government for more than 15 years and have often targeted hotels, which usually host senior Somali and foreign officials.
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