Somalia : Nine dead and 47 wounded In Tawakal Hotel Attack in Kismayo

By : Zakeriye ahmed Horndiplomat Correspondent

Somalia’s Jubaland state security forces ended Kismayo’s Hotel Tawakal siege after six hours when Al-Shabab militants stormed the hotel.

Jubaland state security minister Yusuf Hussein said, “the group consisted of four men who attacked the hotel. The security forces killed three men who stormed the hotel and the fourth suicide himself at the gate blast”.

“Nine people, including students, were killed and another 47 wounded in the Tawakal hotel attack,” he added.

Hours after their fighters stormed the Tawakal hotel, Al-Shabab claimed responsibility for the attack.

In three years, the Tawakal hotel siege is the second high-profile attack in Jubaland’s city of Kismayo, when Al-Shabab militants attacked the Asasey Hotel in Kismayo and killed at least 26 people and other 56 injured in 2019.

On October 3, two suicide blasts hit central Somalia’s city of Beleweyne’s Lama-Galay military base, leaving 20 killed and 36 injured. Beledweyne city is leading the fight against the Al-Shabaab militants, carried out by the government forces alongside the residents of Macawiseley.

In August, Al-Shabab attacked the Hayat hotel in Mogadishu, killing 21 people and wounding 117. The security forces ended the siege after 30 hours, making it one of the longest hotel sieges in Somalia’s capital city of Mogadishu.

Somalia’s Jubaland state president Ahmed Madoobe, the country’s prime minister Hamza Abdi Barre and other political figures strongly condemn the attack on Tawakal Hotel in Kismayo, offering heartfelt sympathy for victims.

Jubaland state regions are one of the bases of Al-Qaeda’s linked group Al-Shabab’s high-profile leaders hiding spot. On October 1, Somalia’s government army, alongside international security allies, killed Alshabab’s da’wa head and one of its co-founders Abdullahi Nadir in operation carried out in Haramka village approximately 90 KM south of Barawe city in the Middle Juba.

Abdullahi Nadir held various positions in Al-Shabab and was in the line to succeed the group’s leadership from current leader Ahmed Diriye. The United States put a 3 million dollar bounty on his head.