NAIROBI, Kenya: A nearly day-long siege in the heart of Somalia’s capital ended with all of the Al-Shabab extremist attackers killed, police said Friday, as the death toll was at 24 and expected to climb.
Capt. Mohamed Hussein told The Associated Press that an operation to clear the besieged buildings had begun, with bodies found. Two of the dead were soldiers, he said.
The overnight attack began with a pair of car bombs exploding in a popular area of Mogadishu where Somalis were relaxing at restaurants and hotels Thursday evening. One went off near the home of appeals court chief Judge Abshir Omar, and security forces fought off gunmen who tried to force their way inside, Hussein said.
“We heard a huge blast, a devastating blast that affected all the buildings,” said Mohamed Ibrahim Mo’alim, the secretary general of the national union of Somali journalists.
At least four gunmen then opened fire at nearby buildings and businesses, sparking clashes with hotel guards, he said. Dozens of cars caught fire along busy Maka Almukarramah Road.
The extremists then holed up inside buildings, exchanging gunfire with security forces who worked well into Friday to free trapped civilians. More than 35 people were rescued, Prime Minister Hassan Ali Khaire said late Friday after visiting the area of shattered buildings.
The Al-Qaeda-linked Al-Shabab, Africa’s deadliest Islamic extremist group, claimed responsibility for the attack and said its target had been the nearby Maka Almukarramah hotel, which is patronized by government officials. The extremist group has targeted it multiple times, killing scores of people.
Police said the death toll could rise. Many victims had horrific injuries — some had lost limbs, nurse Sadiya Yusuf at Daru Shifa hospital said — and hospitals were said to be struggling to cope with the number of causalities.
Doctors at Erdogan Hospital in Mogadishu said they had received 55 wounded people, with three succumbing to injuries. Many were in critical condition and 15 had undergone surgeries, said Dr. Ismail Yamas, the hospital manager.
The style of the attack echoed previous ones by Al-Shabab in Mogadishu as well as the attack in January at a luxury hotel complex in the capital of neighboring Kenya that killed 21 people.
The United Nations mission in Somalia and others in the international community quickly condemned the attack, one of the worst in Mogadishu in months.
It came after the US military carried out a number of deadly airstrikes in recent days against Al-Shabab, considered the deadliest Islamic extremist group in Africa. Al-Shabab opposes Somalia’s federal government and wants to impose sharia law.
The US has dramatically increased such airstrikes since President Donald Trump took office. The US military command for the African continent reported carrying out 50 strikes in Somalia in 2018.
This year, the airstrikes have come at an even faster pace, with 24 so far. The US military command for Africa reported a new one that killed 26 Al-Shabab fighters on Thursday in central Somalia, where two strikes earlier this week killed 55.
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Deadly siege in Somalia’s capital ends, attackers killed
Deadly siege in Somalia’s capital ends, attackers killed
- Somali special forces battling out to dislodge insurgents holed up in a building
- Al-Shabaab claimed responsibility for the attack
Japan ruling party approves plans to beef up intelligence
TOKYO: Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s ruling party has approved plans to beef up the country’s intelligence capability, a party official said Friday, as the premier pushes ahead with a defense overhaul.
Newly empowered after a landslide victory in snap elections this month, Takaichi has vowed to make Japan “strong and prosperous” through key policy changes including in defense and intelligence.
The plans come as a months-long diplomatic row between Japan and China over comments Takaichi made on Taiwan rumbles on.
The proposal, agreed by the intelligence strategy headquarters of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), includes establishing an upgraded intelligence bureau and strengthening “foreign intelligence collection capabilities,” an LDP official told AFP.
It calls for a mandatory registration system for foreign agents — such as individuals and corporations lobbying within Japan on behalf of other governments — as part of counterintelligence measures.
The plan, which also includes a ban on the use of mobile phones in key government buildings, is expected to be submitted to Takaichi next week, the Asahi Shimbun and other local media reported.
“One of the central pillars of the major policy shift (under Takaichi) is a fundamental strengthening of intelligence,” the LDP’s policy chief Takayuki Kobayashi said at the meeting Thursday where plans were approved.
“Simply creating an organization on paper is utterly meaningless; the question is how we can turn it into a truly living, functioning body,” he said.
Separately, the LDP on Wednesday proposed changes to Japan’s stringent rules on exporting military equipment so as to enable exports of lethal weapons, local reports said.
The LDP official could not immediately confirm the proposal.
Takaichi has also said that she plans to revise three key national security policy documents this year to reflect the changing security environment.
The premier, seen as a China hawk before becoming premier in October, suggested in November that Japan could intervene militarily if Beijing sought to take Taiwan by force.
China, which regards the democratic island as part of its territory and has not ruled out force to annex it, was furious.
It summoned Tokyo’s ambassador, warned Chinese citizens against visiting Japan and in December J-15 jets from China’s Liaoning aircraft carrier twice locked radar on Japanese aircraft in international waters near Okinawa, according to Japan.
Takaichi has vowed that Japan will steadfastly protect its territory, territorial waters and airspace.
Beijing’s top diplomat Wang Yi told the Munich Security Conference earlier this month that forces in Japan were seeking to “revive militarism.”
While she has said in parliament she will not change the rules, local media have reported that Takaichi is considering allowing US nuclear weapons into Japanese territory, a revision to the country’s non-nuclear principles of not producing, possessing or permitting the introduction of the weapons into the country.
Newly empowered after a landslide victory in snap elections this month, Takaichi has vowed to make Japan “strong and prosperous” through key policy changes including in defense and intelligence.
The plans come as a months-long diplomatic row between Japan and China over comments Takaichi made on Taiwan rumbles on.
The proposal, agreed by the intelligence strategy headquarters of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), includes establishing an upgraded intelligence bureau and strengthening “foreign intelligence collection capabilities,” an LDP official told AFP.
It calls for a mandatory registration system for foreign agents — such as individuals and corporations lobbying within Japan on behalf of other governments — as part of counterintelligence measures.
The plan, which also includes a ban on the use of mobile phones in key government buildings, is expected to be submitted to Takaichi next week, the Asahi Shimbun and other local media reported.
“One of the central pillars of the major policy shift (under Takaichi) is a fundamental strengthening of intelligence,” the LDP’s policy chief Takayuki Kobayashi said at the meeting Thursday where plans were approved.
“Simply creating an organization on paper is utterly meaningless; the question is how we can turn it into a truly living, functioning body,” he said.
Separately, the LDP on Wednesday proposed changes to Japan’s stringent rules on exporting military equipment so as to enable exports of lethal weapons, local reports said.
The LDP official could not immediately confirm the proposal.
Takaichi has also said that she plans to revise three key national security policy documents this year to reflect the changing security environment.
The premier, seen as a China hawk before becoming premier in October, suggested in November that Japan could intervene militarily if Beijing sought to take Taiwan by force.
China, which regards the democratic island as part of its territory and has not ruled out force to annex it, was furious.
It summoned Tokyo’s ambassador, warned Chinese citizens against visiting Japan and in December J-15 jets from China’s Liaoning aircraft carrier twice locked radar on Japanese aircraft in international waters near Okinawa, according to Japan.
Takaichi has vowed that Japan will steadfastly protect its territory, territorial waters and airspace.
Beijing’s top diplomat Wang Yi told the Munich Security Conference earlier this month that forces in Japan were seeking to “revive militarism.”
While she has said in parliament she will not change the rules, local media have reported that Takaichi is considering allowing US nuclear weapons into Japanese territory, a revision to the country’s non-nuclear principles of not producing, possessing or permitting the introduction of the weapons into the country.
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