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2009 Hotel Shamo bombing

Coordinates: 2°01′51″N 45°18′14″E / 2.0309°N 45.3039°E / 2.0309; 45.3039
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2009 Hotel Shamo bombing
Location of Somalia in Africa
LocationMogadishu, Somalia
Date3 December 2009
Attack type
Suicide bombing
Deaths25
Injured60

The 2009 Hotel Shamo bombing was a suicide bombing at the Hotel Shamo in Mogadishu, Somalia, on 3 December 2009. The bombing killed 25 people, including three ministers of the Transitional Federal Government,[1] and injured 60 more,[2] making it the deadliest attack in Somalia since the Beledweyne bombing on 18 June 2009 that claimed more than 30 lives.[3]

The bombing

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The hall had been brightly decorated, and there was a feeling of excitement – such ceremonies rarely happen in Mogadishu.[4]

Mohammed Olad Hassan, BBC News

Location of Mogadishu in Somalia
Location of Mogadishu in Somalia
Mogadishu
class=notpageimage|
Mogadishu in Somalia

The attack took place inside the meeting hall of the Hotel Shamo in Mogadishu during a commencement ceremony for medical students of Benadir University and was carried out by a suicide bomber standing at near the front of the stage.[5] The ceremony—the second since Benadir University was formed in 2002 and a rare event in war-torn Somalia—had attracted hundreds of people.[6] In attendance were the graduates and their family members, University officials,[7] and five ministers of the Transitional Federal Government (TFG).[6] Security inside the meeting hall was light and all of the ministers' bodyguards were outside the hall.[6]

Casualties

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Suddenly, the hall shook and I heard a PAW! sound from the front of the ceremony, where most government officials and dignitaries were sitting. I got down on the ground and looked back. Dozens of people were on the ground under a huge cloud of smoke. Others were stampeding to the exit for safety.[8]

Abdinasir Mohamed, The Wall Street Journal

The bombing killed 24 people[1] and injured 60 others.[2] Most of those killed were students,[2] but also among the dead were two doctors, three journalists,[9] and three government ministers—Minister of Education Ahmed Abdulahi Waayeel, Minister of Health Qamar Aden Ali, and Minister of Higher Education Ibrahim Hassan Addow were killed.[6][10] Minister of Sports Saleban Olad Roble was critically injured, and was hospitalised. He was later reported to have been flown to Saudi Arabia for treatment,[11] where he died on 13 February 2010.[12]

The three journalists killed in the bombing were: Mohamed Amiin Abdullah of Shabelle Media Network, a Somali television and radio network;[10][9] freelance photographer Yasir Mairo, who died of injuries in hospital;[9] and a cameraman alternately identified as freelancer Hassan Ahmed Hagi[10] and Al Arabiya cameraman Hassan Zubeyr[9] or Hasan al-Zubair.[7] Their deaths raised to nine the number of journalists killed in Somalia during 2009, including four for Radio Shabelle.[9] The explosion also injured six other journalists, including two—Omar Faruk, a photographer for Reuters, and Universal TV reporter Abdulkadir Omar Abdulle—who were taken to Medina Hospital in critical condition.[9]

The dean of Benadir University's medical college was among the wounded.[7]

Perpetrator

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The Danish newspaper Berlingske Tidende reported the bomber was a 24-year-old citizen of Denmark. The Danish intelligence service, the PET, said in a statement that the man was born in Somalia and had been living in Denmark for 20 years. The police chose not to release the name of the suspect, however, a documentary released in 2014 names him as "Abdirahman Mohamed", with one of his friend's giving details regarding his radicalisation.[13] Initially, reports suggested that the bomber had entered the building dressed as a woman in an abaya. During a news conference held in the Hotel Shamo after the attack, President Ahmed called for international assistance to Somalia.[5] He also displayed, according to a local journalist, what he identified as the bomber's body and remains of an explosive belt and a hijab.[10] However, he was later found to have been in a white shirt, standing near the stage, with a camera.[14]

Aftermath

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President Sharif Sheikh Ahmed accused the Islamist group al-Shabaab of perpetrating the attack.

No one immediately claimed responsibility for orchestrating the bombing,[6] but Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, the President of Somalia, blamed the Somali Islamist group al-Shabaab.[10][15]

According to Idd Mohamed, a senior Somali diplomat, the attack was carried out to foster "terror" and "panic" and undermine the legitimacy of the Transitional Federal Government.[5] Wafula Wamunyini, the acting head of the African Union Mission to Somalia (AMISOM), expressed a similar opinion, claiming that the attack had the purpose of "intimidat[ing] and blackmail[ing]" the Somali government.[2] Stephanie McCrummen of The Washington Post described the attack as "the worst blow in months" to the United Nations-supported government of Somalia.[5]

Reactions

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The attack drew condemnation from a number of organisations, including the African Union (AU), the European Union, the United Nations Security Council, and the National Union of Somali Journalists.[6][10]

AMISOM described the bombing as "inhumane and cowardly",[6] and characterised it as a "heinous [crime] against humanity".[10] AMISOM also promised to "spare no efforts" to identify and bring to justice the perpetrators of the attack,[10] and stated that the attack would not deter the AU from continuing to carry out its mission in Somalia.[2]

Baroness Catherine Ashton, the High Representative for Common Foreign and Security Policy for the European Union (EU), echoed AMISOM's sentiment, calling the bombing a "cowardly attack against civilians including students, doctors and journalists".[6]

The UN Security Council president Michel Kafando labelled the attack an act of terrorism[10] and a "criminal act",[5] called for a "thorough investigation", and conveyed "sympathies and condolences" to the victims of the attack, their families, the TFG, and the Somali people.[10]

A joint statement by the UN, the EU, the Arab League and the United States affirmed that the international community would continue its support of the Transitional Federal Government;[6] however, a senior European diplomat indicated that any additional military support to the TFG was unlikely.[5]

President Ahmed characterised the attack as a "national disaster".[2]

The Committee to Protect Journalists issued a statement expressing condolences to the families of the three journalists killed in the bombing and noted that the attack "cemented" Somalia's "position as the deadliest country in Africa for journalists".[9]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b "4th minister dies of wounds". The Straits Times. 6 December 2009. Retrieved 6 December 2009.
  2. ^ a b c d e f "Somalia al-Shabab Islamists deny causing deadly bomb". BBC News. 4 December 2009. Retrieved 4 December 2009.
  3. ^ Guled, Abdi; Ibrahim Mohamed (4 December 2009). "Bomber kills 19 in Somalia". National Post. Retrieved 4 December 2009.[permanent dead link]
  4. ^ Hassan, Mohammed Olad (3 December 2009). "Somalia bomb attack: 'Light turned to dark'". BBC News. Retrieved 4 December 2009.
  5. ^ a b c d e f McCrummen, Stephanie (4 December 2009). "Bombing kills 19 in Somali capital". The Washington Post. Retrieved 4 December 2009.
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i "Somalia ministers killed by hotel suicide bomb". BBC News. 3 December 2009. Retrieved 4 December 2009.
  7. ^ a b c "Govt ministers killed in Somalia blast". RTÉ News and Current Affairs. 3 December 2009. Retrieved 4 December 2009.
  8. ^ Mohamed, Abdinasir (4 December 2009). "I Looked to My Right and Saw a Colleague Dead and Bleeding". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 4 December 2009.
  9. ^ a b c d e f g "Explosion kills three Somali journalists in Mogadishu". Committee to Protect Journalists. 3 December 2009. Retrieved 4 December 2009.
  10. ^ a b c d e f g h i j "Blast kills 19 at graduation ceremony in Somalia". CNN. 3 December 2009. Retrieved 4 December 2009.
  11. ^ Somalia: Patients flown to Saudi Arabia
  12. ^ "Humanitarian | Thomson Reuters Foundation News".
  13. ^ Jespersen, Søren Steen; Farah, Nasib; Faber, Helle; Christiansen, Kim; Payne-Frank, Noah; Phillips, Charlie; Riddell, Juliet; theguardian.com (23 February 2015). "My friend the suicide bomber: meet the men recruited to kill – video". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 9 July 2024.
  14. ^ Jespersen, Søren Steen; Farah, Nasib; Faber, Helle; Christiansen, Kim; Payne-Frank, Noah; Phillips, Charlie; Riddell, Juliet; theguardian.com (23 February 2015). "My friend the suicide bomber: meet the men recruited to kill – video". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 9 July 2024.
  15. ^ Somalia suicide bomber from Denmark Archived 12 December 2009 at the Wayback Machine The Copenhagen Post.
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