Somalia: Al-Shabaab militants attack beach hotel in Mogadishu
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The prophet Muhammad’s compassion
June 14, 2023Somali soldiers sit on a pick-up to patrol at the goverment of Bari administrative region in Bosaso, Somalia, 20 January 2009. Two young Chinese journalists were sent to Somalia in January 2009 to make reports on the pirates in the Eastern African country as ship hijacking was worsening in the Aden Bay. Zeng Yu and Zhang Yuan, both from Shanghai-based Shanghai Morning Post, flied to the Beijing first and they took their second flight to Dubai. Then they took the third flight to Djibouti, an African county on the west of Somalia. From there, they took the last plane to Bosaso (Boosaaso), a port city of Somalia. Escorted by five mercenaries, the two reporters spent more than a week looking for pirates for interview and finally found a 30-year-old pirate through a middleman. The pirate, nicknamed Najib who refused to give his full name, was a fisherman in El Maan, a port of Somalia. He and other fishermen hunted sharks and sold shark fins, which enabled him to earn US$10,000 a month. However more and more foreign boats and ships started fishing in the sea area. Najib found that he could not compete with these mechanized vessels and his earnings were decreasing. In 2007, Najib learned that the port had become a foothold of pirates and some of his friends and colleagues were making big money by hijacking ships. Then he decided to join them and sold his house and land to buy weapons. He recruited more than 20 fishermen and founded his own pirate troop. They started their first hijacking at one night in November 2007. Najib and 11 of his members climbed on a medium-size ship which was sailing in the Cape Hafun, north of Somalia, and held all crew onboard. They earned US$1.5 million this time and started to get accustomed to hijacking. Now Najib lives in a big house worth US$100,000 and he goes out to hijack ships for three days a month. Trust me, this is not my fault. I did not want to become a pirate. I never kill people. My life is not as good as before, said Najib.
Six civilians killed and ten injured in the attack on a hotel in the capital Mogadishu by Islamist militiamen
The Somali security forces, in the early hours of Saturday morning managed to end the siege of some terrorists linked to al-Shabaab in a hotel on the Mogadishu beach. The police said they had rescued 84 guests of the hotel luxury Pearl Beach.
Six civilians were killed in the attack and 10 were injured. Three other brave members of the security forces were shot dead during the rescue operation, police said in a statement.
Al Qaeda-linked al-Shabaab group claimed responsibility for the raid on the hotel which continued from Friday evening to the early hours of Saturday for a total of 10 hours.
The radical Islamist group has been carrying on a battle in the country against the internationally supported federal government for the past 15 years, an insurrection that brought about continued instability. Since the president, Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, took office in May 2022, Al Shabaab, which in Arabic means "the youth", is mainly present in rural areas and continues to carry out attacks against security and civilian targets, including in the capital.
The Somali National News Agency reported that "the security forces have successfully neutralized" the Islamist militants.
Witnesses said they heard gunfire and explosions at the Lido beach hotel on Friday evening where two suicide bombers reportedly blew themselves up.
The structure which is located in Lido Beach is frequented by government officials, politicians and foreign businessmen, not far from some embassies.
The official Somali news agency has published on Twitter some photos showing security personnel intervening to rescue civilians.
In the last few hours, Somalia has also recorded twenty-two victims, including two children, due to the explosion of some bombs about 120 kilometers south of Mogadishu. For the deputy district commissioner, Abdi Ahmed Ali it is "a catastrophe". "Near Qoryoley, innocent children were killed in an explosion caused by mortar fire," the official said at a press conference.
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