While the world is still coming to terms with the New Year’s Eve attack on a popular venue in Istanbul and the number of casualties this caused have two simultaneous bombings in Mogadishu have gone almost unnoticed.
Targeted by Al Shabab criminals were both the airport and combined UNISOM entrance area and in the second attack a hotel popular with foreign visitors.
While there were no reports on deaths was it confirmed that at almost a dozen people were injured, some seriously, when the car bombs were set off.
The airport and UNISOM – short for the UN Mission in Somalia – were repeated targets last year, showing the challenges which exist to keep militants and terrorists out of the Somali capital. Several hotels and recreation spots too were targets in 2016 with a significant number of casualties.
The Peace Hotel, where the second bomb went off, suffered some superficial damage but other nearby buildings are said to have collapsed under the impact of the blast wave. This is the first time that the Peace Hotel was attacked.
Somalia’s terrorists pose a threat to the entire Eastern African region and the withdrawal of the navy alliance is seen by many observers as opening the door again to piracy from ports and shore areas still controlled by Al Shabab. Ethiopia, which has withdrawn troops from Somalia as well as neighboring Kenya have stepped up surveillance and protection measures to prevent terrorist attacks on their soil but threat levels remain high until such time that Al Shabab has been dislodged from their remaining strongholds inside Somalia.
