A Somali Deputy Minister has been killed in a terror attack in Mogadishu
Sorrow floods Somalia once again as least twenty people, including Somalia’s deputy labor minister have been killed in a terror bomb attack in Mogadishu yesterday, March 23rd 2019. The attack has been claimed by the Al-Shabaab militant group.
Somali authorities have secured the site of the attack, and at least 11 people, who were wounded during the explosion are now receiving medical care.
“There can be others inside but we have so far collected eleven people wounded in the attack,” said Abdukadir Abdirahman Adan (director of the Aamin ambulance service in the capital Mogadish)
is a jihadist fundamentalist group based in East Africa. In 2012, it pledged allegiance to the militant Islamist organization Al-Qaeda. In February 2012, some of the group’s leaders quarreled with Al-Qaeda over the union, and quickly lost ground. Al-Shabaab’s troop strength was estimated at 7,000 to 9,000 militants in 2014. As of 2015, the group has retreated from the major cities, however al-Shabaab still controls large parts of the rural areas.
In early August 2011, the Transitional Federal Government’s troops and their AMISOM allies managed to capture all of Mogadishu from the al-Shabaab militants. An ideological rift within the group’s leadership also emerged, and several of the organization’s senior commanders were assassinated. Due to its Wahhabi roots, al-Shabaab is hostile to Sufi traditions and has often clashed with the militant Sufi group Ahlu Sunna Waljama’a. The group has also been suspected of having links with Al-Qaeda in Islamic Maghreb and Boko Haram. It attracted some members from western countries, including Samantha Lewthwaite and Abu Mansoor Al-Amriki.
In August 2014, the Somali government-led Operation Indian Ocean was launched to clean up the remaining insurgent-heldpockets in the countryside. On 1 September 2014, a US drone strike carried out as part of the broader mission killed al-Shabaab leader Ahmed Abdi Godane, also known as Mukhtar Abu Zubair. U.S. authorities hailed the raid as a major symbolic and operational loss for al-Shabaab, and the Somali government offered a 45-day amnesty to all moderate members of the militant group. The group remains nonetheless strong and active, and has been responsible for exceptionally deadly terrorist attacks. Earlier this month, at least 20 people died in an attack in Mogadishu which saw Al-Shabaab jihadists battling security forces for nearly 24 hours.
As our thoughts and prayers go out there to the Somali government and families who have been affected during this attack, we pray for a safer Africa — free of terrorism, and horror.
