More than 15 persons dead and more than 100 injured have resulted from a devastating attack by al-Shabaab militants at Liido Beach in Mogadishu. Friday night the attack started with a suicide bomber detonating an explosive vest at the Beach View Hotel, then shooters swarming the grounds.
Five al-Shabaab attackers who broke into the hotel were neutralized by security personnel according to state media. Six in all, the terrorists included one who exploded himself at the beginning of the attack. Many people caught in the area were evacuated by security personnel, who also safely defused an explosive-carrying vehicle kept close by.
“The ruthless terrorists attacked innocent civilians at Lido Beach in Mogadishu’s Abdiaziz district on Friday night,” the national television of Somalia confirmed. Behind the cowardly act, the security personnel eliminated every terrorist. On the ground helping the victims injured in the attacks are medical personnel and security agents.”
Eyewitness Mohamud Moalim told The Associated Press he observed an assailant sporting an explosive vest just before the man “blew himself up next to the Beach View Hotel.”
The great number of wounded people in the city makes hospitals seeking blood donations. Concerned people have gathered at Digfer Hospital’s gate in Mogadishu as someone reads the names of the injured over a loudspeaker.
Through its radio station, Al-Shabaab, an al-Qaeda offshoot in East Africa, has taken ownership for the attack. Still, the Federal Government of Somalia has not yet released any formal comments.
“We extend our condolences to the families and relatives of those who lost their lives in tonight’s attack by terrorists on persons who were spending the evening at Liido Beach in Mogadishu city,” Puntland President Said Abdullahi Deni said. The horrible strike tonight in Mogadishu aimed at innocent people exposes the way terrorists are wiping off our population. We ask Allah to bless those who passed death paradise and heal those who were hurt. Aamiin”.
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Along with Deputy Minister of Health Dr. Mohamed Hassan Bullale, Yusuf Hussein Jimale Madaale, the Governor of Banadir Region and Mayor of Mogadishu, paid visits to the injured victims of an al-Shabab suicide attack and shooting at Liido Beach Friday night.
The officials visited different hospitals and got updates from doctors healing the injured. They gave the victim’s blood as well. Promising the Banadir Regional Government will support the injured, Mayor Madaale asked doctors and health centers to give the affected people the finest treatment.
