Attack in Mogadishu on October 14, 2017

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An explosive device and a car bomb were detonated in the center of Mogadishu
Destroyed road landscape after the attack
Destroyed road landscape after the attack

In the attack in Mogadishu on October 14, 2017 , an assassin killed 587 people and injured 316 with an explosive device and by running over them. A second car bomb killed two people.

Nobody confessed to the attack. The Somali government of Hassan Ali Khaire and international observers blamed the terrorist group al-Shabaab for the attack.

background

The attack on October 14, 2017 was the attack with the highest number of victims in Somalia .

Sunni fundamentalists, including the al-Shabaab group supported by the Arab region, repeatedly carry out attacks against civilians and security forces in Somalia. Al-Shabaab controls parts of Somalia and wants to enforce their rule throughout the country. The militia is considered a local partner organization of the al-Qaeda network . Together with a 22,000-man African Union mission in Somalia (as of 2017), the Somali army wants to smash al-Shabaab. She receives support from the US embassy in Kenya. In March 2017, US President Donald Trump extended the Pentagon's powers to operate against terrorist groups in Somalia; the US military is also using drones against al-Shabaab positions.

The attack occurred 48 hours after both Somali Defense Minister Abdirashid Abdullahi Mohamed and Somali Armed Forces chief Mohamed Ahmed Jimale resigned for no reason.

attacks

On Saturday, October 14, 2017, a bomber drove a truck down a street in Mogadishu at high speed, rolling over several motorcycles and cars stuck in traffic and pushing others out of the way. According to eyewitnesses, security forces tried to shoot the driver. This nevertheless reached one of the busiest intersections in the city and blew himself up there with the vehicle. The area around the intersection is home to hotels, shops, restaurants and government buildings.

Surrounding buildings were massively damaged or collapsed as a result of the explosion. Hundreds of meters further on, the pressure wave broke windows and doors were torn from their hinges.

According to official information, two people were killed and the attacker arrested in a second car bomb attack in the Madina district.

Consequences and reactions

After the attack, there were spontaneous popular demonstrations against the terror of the Sunni al-Shabaab in the city. The day after the attack, Somali President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed ordered a three-day state mourning .

Immediately after the attack, the Somali government had 111 of those killed immediately buried because the victims could not be identified. A doctor at Madina Hospital said 72 injured had been admitted, 25 of them in critical condition. Many had lost extremities in the attack. The rescue workers said there had been more than 300 instead of the initially officially stated 276 victims. On October 20, 2017, the death toll was given as 358, 228 were injured and 56 were still missing. After further research, the number of fatalities was increased to over 500 in November 2017 and was given as 587 in March 2018.

A number of countries, including Ethiopia and Kenya, offered assistance and medical assistance to Somalia. Turkey announced that it would send a plane with medical assistance to Mogadishu the day after the attack. French President Emmanuel Macron called for more support for the African Union (AU) in the fight against Islamist terror groups; France would be on the side of Somalia. The US embassy in Kenya called the attack a "cowardly attack". UN General Secretary António Guterres announced in a tweet that the news of the attack had "made him sick". He called for unity in the face of terrorism and violent extremism.

On February 6, 2018, a military court sentenced 23-year-old Hassan Adan Isaq to death by firing squad. He is said to have commanded the assassins. Another person was sentenced to life imprisonment in absentia for allegedly organizing the truck. One man was also sentenced to three years in prison for letting the truck pass unhindered.

See also

Web links

Commons : Attack in Mogadishu on October 14, 2017  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Committee: 587 dead in Oct 14 terror attack. hiiraan.com, March 5, 2018, accessed April 5, 2018 .
  2. ↑ Somalia truck bomb attack that killed more than 300 people in Mogadishu 'may be revenge for US-led operation' , independent.co.uk, October 18, 2017.
  3. ↑ a b The Pentagon used a new authority to strike a Somali terrorist hub Sunday . In: NBC News . ( nbcnews.com [accessed October 16, 2017]).
  4. ↑ a b c d e Terrorist attack in Somalia: number of deaths continues to rise . In: Spiegel Online . October 16, 2017 ( spiegel.de [accessed October 16, 2017]).
  5. ↑ a b c d Somalia declares three days of mourning after blast. Retrieved October 16, 2017 .
  6. ^ Frankfurter Rundschau: Terrorist attack: Hundreds of dead after attack in Somalia . In: Frankfurter Rundschau . ( fr.de [accessed on October 16, 2017]).
  7. ↑ a b c d e f Hundreds dead in Mogadishu blast . In: BBC News . October 16, 2017 ( bbc.com [accessed October 16, 2017]).
  8. ↑ Mogadishu truck bombing death toll jumps to 358.BBC News, October 20, 2017, accessed on September 23, 2018 .
  9. ↑ Death toll from Somalia truck bomb in October now at 512: probe committee. Reuters, November 30, 2017, accessed on September 23, 2018 .
  10. ^ Committee: 587 dead in Oct 14 terror attack. hiiraan.com, March 5, 2018, accessed September 23, 2018 .
  11. ↑ United States Condemns Mogadishu Terrorist Attacks | US Mission to Somalia . In: US Mission to Somalia . October 15, 2017 ( usmission.gov [accessed October 16, 2017]).
  12. ↑ The mastermind behind the Mogadishu attack sentenced to death. In: derStandard.at. February 6, 2018, accessed February 6, 2018 .

Coordinates: 2 ° 1 ′ 58 ″  N , 45 ° 18 ′ 16.1 ″  E