The al Shabaab militia, which is loosely affiliated to al Qaida, has claimed responsibility for the attack on the Jazeera Palace Hotel, which is situated next to the offices of the United Nations.
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At least 13 people were killed and over 40 others injured when suicide bomber drove a vehicle with explosives through the hotel gate, setting of a huge bomb explosion in the Somalian capital of Mogadishu.
The UN Security Council also condemned the attack “in the strongest terms”.
However, a report from news agency DPA suggested that the suspected attacker had dual Libyan-Somali citizenship, but no German passport despite residing in the central European country until roughly 2012.
The Jazeera is close to the fortified global airport, which houses the United Nations, Western diplomatic missions and AMISOM – the AU force in Somalia.
The hotel has been the target of Al-Shabaab attacks in the past, including in 2012 when suicide bombers stormed the hotel while Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud was inside.
People stand next to destroyed vehicle after a terrorist attack near a hotel in the Somali capital of Mogadishu on July 26, 2015.
Abdisalam Omer said a Kenyan diplomat was also wounded in the attack.
Despite the fact that the militants have been pushed out of Mogadishu and other major cities in the African country by government troops, they have continued to wage attacks in Mogadishu in an attempt to overthrow the government in Somalia. “His relatives knew about his presence in Somalia for the past several years and he fought alongside Shebab”, a source said.
“We have been able to decrease their effective control within Somalia and have weakened those networks operating here in East Africa”. The coalition forces have managed to push the group from the capital.
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US coordination with African troops, including from Ethiopia, Kenya and Uganda, has been “very efficient” and is partly responsible for the Somali government’s territorial gains, Mr Obama said on Monday.
