Another long hotel siege ends in Mogadishu

[Valin]

FDD's Long War Journal

Caleb Weiss

November 28, 2022

Somali forces have finally ended yet another long hotel siege in Somalia’s capital of Mogadishu, almost twenty four hours after it began. The siege, which was upon the Villa Rays Hotel just meters from the presidential palace, was perpetrated by Shabaab, al Qaeda’s branch in East Africa. 

Shabaab’s men began the siege with its typical modus operandi of a suicide car bomb targeting the hotel’s front gates before an assault team entered the perimeter and stormed the building. The gunmen then took hostages as they seized control over the hotel, battling back several attempts to recapture the compound by Somali security forces. 

Exact casualty numbers are still unclear, though it is believed that at least eight people, including a British national, were killed. Two Somali ministers, including Somalia’s Minister of Environment, survived the assault. It is possible the numbers could rise as security forces continue to clear and search the hotel grounds.

Sitting just nearby to Villa Somalia, the presidential palace, the Villa Rays was popular with  many within the Somali government. 

(Snip)