The assault led by six attackers in the heart of the Somali capital, which made nine victims, could not be made without complicity, in a perimeter grid by the checkpoints.
by Noé Hochet-Bodin (nairobi, correspondence)
The Somalian ministers and senior officials rub shoulders with the establishment daily. From the Villa Rays hotel, you can see the entrance to Villa Somalia, the presidency, a hundred meters away. It is in this central and ultra-seconded area of Mogadishu, in the heart of power, that the jihadist group of the Chabab managed to infiltrate this hotel and kill nine people.
The attack, started at 8 p.m. Sunday, November 27, turned into a long bloody closed door of about nineteen hours during which the six assailants of Harakat al-Chabab al-Moudjahidin, the group Somali terrorist affiliated with Al-Qaida, took control of the establishment before executing eight people there and killing a Somali soldier. They were neutralized at the end of the afternoon on Monday by the special forces “Gashaan”, trained by the United States: “Five was slaughtered and one exploded,” according to the authorities.
The Minister of Internal Security, Mohamed Sheikh Ali, present in the hotel, was injured, while two other ministers, surprised during their prayer, managed to escape, just like sixty other people. These government officials constitute targets of choice for the Chabab.
complicity
After the shock of the attack, this attack constitutes a terrible humiliation for the president, Hassan Cheikh Mohamoud, who was a few hundred meters at the time of the attack and which would have been escorted under protection in the green zone of Mogadiscio International Airport for its safety.
Not only is Somalia struck in her heart by an enemy against which she ensures a “total war”, but it is now clear that the jihadists have benefited from complicities to reach this perimeter grid by checkpoints and filter dams , usually inaccessible for the inhabitants of the city. The terrorists managed to pass several checks without being worried, like the deadliest attack on African soil: 587 victims following the explosion of a trapped truck, in Mogadiscio, the October 14, 2017.
“By the grace of God, our Moudjahidin forces, which led the attack, crossed all the roadblocks that the enemy has placed on our way, in Mogadishu,” said the jihadist group during the siege of The hotel, in a press release where it also specifies that it has made use of mortars.
multiplication of violent actions
This new blow carried by the Chabab weakens Hassan Cheikh. Elected in May, the one who has already held this position, between 2012 and 2017, plays his second term on the war brought against the terrorists. A triple war: military, financial and religious. However, this attack reminds of both the permanent threat represented by the insurgents and the porosity of the Somali security forces.
This Monday, November 28, was to be a celebration day for the Head of State. He welcomed the first international conference for investment in Somalia with great fanfare, bringing together diplomats and businessmen. Hassan Cheikh held his speech there to save appearances, at the very moment when the hotel seat was continued, under the windows of the presidency buildings.
Since August, the Somali army operations have made it possible to regain control of around fifty villages to the jihadists who still have the stranglehold on the countryside in the south and north of the country. Beyond the territorial gains, the president joined the support of religious leaders and chiefs of clan.
But, in military difficulty, the jihadists now multiply violent actions. They regularly strike in several provinces, sometimes targeting hotels, sometimes places of power. Almost a month ago, a double attack on the car trapped killed more than a hundred victims in front of the Ministry of Education, again in the center of Mogadishu.