Gunmen kills at least three in attack near Somali airport
AT LEAST three people were killed in an attack near Mogadishu’s airport on March 23 as gunmen attempted to storm a heavily fortified area of the Somali capital, police said, with AlShabaab insurgents claiming responsibility.
Witnesses reported hearing heavy gunfire while public broadcaster Somali National Television said on Twitter that security forces were “attending a terrorist incident at one of main gates of Mogadishus Halane compound”.
The airport complex houses the UN, aid agencies, foreign missions and contractors, and the headquarters of the African Union military mission, AMISOM.
“The two attackers were killed and the situation is back to normal now,” said Ibrahim Mohamed, a police officer at the airport.
“One police officer, [an] AMISOM peacekeeper and a civilian died in the armed confrontation. Seven others, most of them security forces, were also wounded,” he added.
Witnesses inside the complex said the attack lasted around 45 minutes, with a gas station catching fire and sending smoke billowing into the sky.
“All the camps in the complex were locked down briefly but we managed to get out later after the situation returned to normal,” said Ismahan Hassan, a cleaner at a restaurant there.
Al-Shabaab, which has been waging a violent insurgency against the country’s fragile government for over a decade, said it carried out the attack.
The al-Qaeda-linked militants frequently attack civilian, military and government targets in the capital and outside.
The jihadists have previously claimed responsibility for mortar attacks on the airport complex, including in March last year when six rounds landed within its perimeter.
In 2020, the UN said several mortar rounds had landed in the vicinity of the UN and AMISOM compound near the airport.
Nine people, including three AMISOM soldiers, were wounded in a similar mortar attack targeting the complex in 2019.
In a separate assault on March 23, a suicide attacker killed lawmaker Amina Mohamed Abdi and several of her guards as she campaigned for re-election in the central district of Beledweyne, police and witnesses said.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility.
In the evening, the US embassy in Somalia on Twitter condemned “those who seek to murder and destroy” in the country.
UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric pledged “the full solidarity and support of the United Nations with the government and the people of Somalia in their fight against terrorism”.
The African country has seen a spate of attacks in recent weeks as the country hobbles through a long-delayed election process.
The president and prime minister have been at loggerheads over the vote, which is more than a year late and has been marred by violence.
President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed, better known as Farmajo, tried to extend his rule by decree when his term expired in February 2021 without elections taking place.
The move sparked furious protests and street battles in Mogadishu, prompting Farmajo to ask his prime minister, Mohamed Hussein Roble, to broker a consensus on a way forward.
But disagreements between the two men, and feuds with Somalia’s states, have hindered progress.