Somalia executes terrorist on anniversary of attack
MOGADISHU: Somalia yesterday executed by firing squad a man linked to one of the country’s deadliest ever attacks, one year after the tragedy which left more than 500 dead, a court statement and police sources said.
Hundreds of Somalis gathered at a ceremony to mark the anniversary of the attack, in which a truck packed with explosives blew up at a busy intersection, destroying some 20 buildings in an apocalyptic scene in a city used to explosions at the hands of Al-Shabaab.
To coincide with the anniversary, a military court announced that a team member involved in the attack had been executed.
Hassan Adan Isak, was sentenced to death for “driving one of the vehicles used in the blast”, read a statement from the court.
“Today, Oct 14, the death penalty was carried out against him.”
Hassan was the driver of a vehicle which he parked near an airport checkpoint shortly after the truck went off, and was arrested for suspicious behaviour. The target of his attack was unclear and there were no casualties in the second blast.
Business at the Zoope intersection has returned to normal, and some buildings have been reconstructed, now carrying billboards depicting harrowing pictures of the blast and its victims.
A memorial tower has been erected in the middle of the intersection.
“All we can do is pray for them, I have lost them, I don’t think commemoration would bring them back to me, but I hope nothing like the October tragedy happens again,” said Omar Haji Mohamed, a disabled father who lost two children in the blast.
“I still cry from the bottom of my heart where people cannot see and only God knows how much I go through every day of my life after that tragedy,” he said.