It was a Friday evening in Somalia’s capital. The patrons of the
Hotels are refuges in
This time, about 35 hours followed the moment an explosion shattered the
Last weekend’s siege could be a turning point for the
Horrified Somalis then watched as 21 people at the
The attack was “a window into the mindset of today’s Al-Shabab and how it has morphed into a more dark, sinister, and nihilistic movement,” the Somali Wire newsletter wrote Wednesday, noting that the hotel was not a “normal” target but “a modest hotel whose clientele were mostly ordinary people.”
Now
In a national address this week, he spoke with new determination. Al-
Standing in the rubble of his hotel still marked with blood and flesh, owner
The 60-year-old was overwhelmed as he recounted his helplessness at being a short walk from the hotel for prayers when the attack began. Calls quickly flooded his phone. A suicide bomber had detonated at a side gate, callers said, and gunmen overran security forces and shot at everyone they found.
“I couldn’t get closer to the hotel because of the exchange of gunfire,” Nur told The Associated Press.
It was chaos. One survivor,
“There were hand grenades that made everyone petrified,” Ali said. He broke two windows and leaped out the second to escape, injuring himself along the way.
Nur, the hotel owner, immediately thought of his two brothers, Abdirahman and Shuaib, who had come to have lunch with him and afternoon tea. They were still inside, but he dared not call them.
“When such attacks happen, people are advised not to call those whom they think might be at the scene of an attack,” Nur said. “The ringing phone might bring the attention of the attackers.”
It was wisdom drawn from years of watching al-
Later, Nur learned from hotel colleagues that Abdirahman had been killed near the reception area while looking for a place to hide. And on the second day of the attack, he found Shuaib’s body himself.
“We trust the fate of God,” Nur said, his face pressed with grief.
The long time it took for Somali security forces to end the siege, and even communicate among themselves, has been questioned and criticized. At first, a paramilitary force trained by
Somalia’s prime minister,
The four-story hotel, in a highly fortified area near the international airport and government offices, has been shattered. Rebuilding, like everything else in today’s global economy, would be expensive with the rising costs of construction materials.
And yet 67 employees depended on the hotel, and on its owner, a reminder of the fragility in
“I’m wondering how these people will continue their lives,” Nur said.
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