Al Shabaab Weekend Attacks: Drive-by Shooting, Hotel Bombing

On July 25, Abdullahi Hussein Mohamud Bantu, a member of Somalia’s Parliament, was killed in a drive-by shooting in the Wadajir district of Mogadishu, Somalia. His bodyguard was also killed in the shooting, and a government official from the Prime Minister’s office was killed in a separate attack on the same day.

An anonymous spokesman for Al Shabaab said that “the killing has been carried out by our fighters in Mogadishu. We will continue targeting all Somali [Members of Parliament] because they spread un-Islamic laws.”

In a separate attack on July 26, a suicide car bomb drove into the gates of the Jazeera Palace Hotel in Mogadishu. At least 13 people were killed and more than 40 were injured in the subsequent explosion. The hotel is frequented by international diplomats, and it accommodates the embassies of China, Qatar, and Egypt. A Chinese embassy worker and three members of the hotel staff were among those dead. Most of the others killed were Somali civilians that were near the hotel at the time of the blast.

Al Shabaab, which has targeted the hotel in the past, claimed responsibility for the bombing. It has previously attacked large hotels: In January, a member of the group carried out a suicide bomb attack at a hotel where Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was arriving days later. At the time of the bombing, a 70-member Turkish delegation was in the hotel. In February, it attacked the Central Hotel in Mogadishu, injuring Somalia’s Deputy Prime Minister. In March, it stormed into the Maku-Mukarramah Hotel and took several Somali government officials hostage.

The July 26 attack on the Jazeera Palace Hotel was carried out in retaliation for the recent offensive by troops from the Somali National Army (SNA) and the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM).

The offensive, named ‘Operation Jubba Corridor,’ began on July 19 in Somalia’s Bay and Gedo regions. The operation has so far been successful. Al Shabaab has been forced out of numerous towns and villages, including Baadhere and Dinsoor, which the group has controlled for years.

Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud responded to the attack on the hotel, saying, “This was an attack on a symbol – the Jazeera Hotel was a place where the international community met their counterparts in Somali politics, business and civil society. But I have a message for the terrorists: the Jazeera Palace will be rebuilt and it will soon be back in business. That is how we respond to callous attacks such as this – attacks that, as is so often the case, harm only innocent Somali citizens and our international colleagues who are here to help.”

Al Shabaab is an Al Qaeda-linked group fighting in Somalia to install an Islamist regime. The group was previously a part of the Islamic Courts Union (ICU), which ruled most of Somalia under Sharia law. It has been waging an insurgency against the Somali government since the ICU lost power in 2006.

Though Al Shabaab once controlled large amounts of territory, it has been largely pushed out of its holdings and reduced to guerilla tactics. The US has been conducting airstrikes against its leadership for months, and the success of Operation Jubba Corridor suggests that the group is starting to falter. However, forces fighting against Al Shabaab must take care to not be lulled into a false sense of security by its recent losses. Just earlier this month, it appeared to be showing signs of resurgence in Southern and Central Somalia, demonstrating how quickly it can again regain the upper hand.