Sun 23 October 2022:
In the middle of Somalia’s port city of Kismayu, a car carrying explosives rammed into the gate of a hotel, following gunfire, according to a police officer and a resident on Sunday.
Security forces were addressing a “terrorist incident,” according to the state-run Somali National Television, which posted the information on Twitter.
“There is a blast at Tawakal hotel and there is gunfire being heard,” Mohamed Nur, a police captain, told Reuters from Kismayu.
There was no immediate word on casualties. Witnesses said a huge blast was heard before the gunfire started.
MEDIA IN SOMALIA ORDERED NOT TO PUBLISH AL-SHABAB PROPAGANDA
“The security forces have besieged the scene,” Farah Ali, a shopkeeper in Kismayu, told Reuters news agency. It was not immediately clear who was responsible for the attack.
Journalist Jama Nur Ahmed from Mogadishu, quoting an official, told Al Jazeera that “exchange of fire” was still ongoing between security forces and fighters.
Kismayu is the commercial capital of Jubbaland, a region of southern Somalia still partly controlled by armed group al-Shabab.
Somalia’s coastal town of Kismayo is under attack.
Explosion followed by gunfire heard in Tawakal, a seaside hotel frequented by politicians.
Al-Shabaab immediately claims responsibility. pic.twitter.com/NYaM5czd9B— Fatima Abdi (@AnnBannies) October 23, 2022
Somali security forces say they have made gains on the battlefield against al Shabaab in recent weeks while fighting alongside local self-defence groups, but the group has continued to carry out deadly raids.
The Somali government announced earlier this month that Abdullahi Yare, a key Al-Shabaab leader with a $3-million (£2.6m) bounty on his head, had been killed in an air strike.
In 2012, Al Shabab was expelled from Kismayu. The group’s main source of income came from taxes, charcoal exports, levies on arms and other illegal imports, and the city’s port.
At least 26 people were killed in a related attack in Kismayu in 2019 at another hotel.
After numerous deadly attacks, President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, who was elected in May, has vowed to defeat al-Shabaab.
African Union troops expelled the armed group from Mogadishu in 2011. It still has control over large areas of the countryside, though.
A decade-long armed rebellion has resulted in the deaths of thousands of Somalis.
SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES
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