2009 Hotel Shamo bombing

2009 Hotel Shamo bombing
Location of Somalia in Africa
Location	Mogadishu, Somalia
Date	3 December 2009
Attack type	Suicide bombing
Deaths	25
Injured	60

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

Mogadishu

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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

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

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 refers to him as "Abdi", 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

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

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

• 2009 Beledweyne bombing
• List of journalists killed during the Somali civil war
• List of terrorist incidents, 2009
• Somali Civil War (2009–present)

References

External links

Wikinews has related news:

• At least fifteen killed after suicide bombing in Somali hotel