October 17, 2017 | Daily Monitoring Report
Paris, Toronto Pay Tribute To Victims Of Mogadishu Terror Attack
17 October – Source: Hiiraan Online – 224 Words
Paris and Toronto have both paid tribute to the victims of Saturday’s horrific terror attack in Mogadishu in two unique ways. The lights of the Eiffel Tower – one of the most iconic and recognizable landmarks in the world – were switched off on Monday evening in solidarity with the 300 people killed in the country’s deadliest terror attack. Overwhelmed and understaffed hospitals in Mogadishu are struggling to assist the badly wounded. The first Turkish military plane carrying 35 injured people arrived in the capital, Ankara. According to Turkish officials, 13 of the victims are in serious condition and three are children.
Somalia’s government has placed the blame squarely on the militant insurgency group despite Al-Shabaab not yet claiming responsibility for the attack. The attack bears all the hallmarks of the Al-Qaeda linked group who has frequently used truck bombs detonated by a driver as a weapon against both civilian and government installations in the past.
The tower’s official Twitter account announced: “I will turn myself off at midnight to pay homage to the victims of the Mogadishu attack.” Normally the Paris monument stays lit later into the night. The Eiffel tower lights are routinely switched off to honour the victims of extremist attacks around the world. Similar acts of solidarity were shown for London, Barcelona, Tehran, Orlando, Brussels, St Petersburg, Quebec City, Manchester and Kabul.
Key Headlines
- Paris Toronto Pay Tribute To Victims Of Mogadishu Terror Attack (Hiiraan Online)
- Fighter Jets Hit Al-Shabaab Vehicle In Lower Shabelle (Jowhar.com)
- Huge Protest Underway In Kismayo Schools And Business Centers Closed (Allbanaadir.com)
- 35 Somalis Injured In Mogadishu Blast Arrive In Turkey For Treatment (Daily Sabah)
- AMISOM Officers Donate Blood For Mogadishu Bomb Blast Victims (AMISOM)
- Somalia Blasts Expose Security Failings And Possible Al-Shabaab Infiltration (The New York Times)
NATIONAL MEDIA
Fighter Jets Hit Al-Shabaab Vehicle In Lower Shabelle
17 October – Source: Jowhar.com – 125 Words
Fighter jets targeted two Al-Shabaab vehicles passing near Lower Shabelle’s Awdhiigle town overnight. Reports say the unknown jet fired missiles at two vehicles carrying senior Al-Shabaab commanders. Witnesses said one of the vehicles was destroyed in the strike as the other managed to escape unharmed. Civilians nearby were injured in the air-raid and were taken to hospitals in Mogadishu for treatment.
Lower Shabelle administration official said the occupants of the targeted vehicle were all killed in the attack. The identity of the fighter jets still remains unknown. But previous similar strikes in the region were conducted by American drones killing senior Al-Shabaab officials. It is not known if the strike is a response to the Saturday’ deadly bombing at Zoobe junction in the capital Mogadishu.
Huge Protest Underway In Kismayo, Schools And Business Centers Closed
17 October – Source: Allbanaadir.com – 104 Words
Schools and business centers in the seaport town of Kismayo have been brought to a standstill as the city’s residents took to the streets to protest and condemn Saturday’s deadly explosion in Mogadishu. Hundreds of protesters are marching in the main streets of Kismayo and it is expected that senior Jubbaland officials including President Ahmed Madobe will later address them.
The demonstrations were organized in response to the deadly attack in Mogadishu. Protesters are shouting anti-Al-Shabaab slogans and are expressing sympathy for the relatives of the victims killed in the bombing. Similar protests have been taking place across the country since the carnage happened.
INTERNATIONAL MEDIA
35 Somalis Injured In Mogadishu Blast Arrive In Turkey For Treatment
17 October- Source: Daily Sabah – 347 Words
Turkey’s deputy prime minister has announced that 35 Somalis, including three children, injured in Saturday’struck bombing in capital Mogadishu, arrived in the Turkish capital Ankara late Monday, while Somali politicians expressed their gratitude for Turkey’s help. The blast at a busy road junction, blamed on Al-Shabaab terrorists, killed at least 276 people and wounded more than 300 others, according to Somali National News Agency, SONNA.
Speaking to reporters in Ankara, Recep Akdağ said that the patients, of whom 13 were severely injured, would be transferred to Polatlı, Numune and Gülhane hospitals. The deputy PM added that currently 33 staff members of the Turkish Health Ministry were in Somalia and more patients could be transferred to Turkey if necessary. Turkey’s Health Minister Ahmet Demircan arrived in the Somali capital to oversee Turkish assistance, accompanied by 33 staff, including an emergency services medical team, the Turkish Embassy said in a statement.
A Turkish aircraft loaded with medical aid and emergency services workers, including 13 workers from the Turkish Red Crescent and the Disaster and Emergency Management Authority (AFAD), landed in Mogadishu Monday morning. The Turkish humanitarian and medical aid was welcomed by the Somali government and people. Somalia’s President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed on Monday said during a visit to Aden Adde International Airport in Mogadishu that his government and Somali people would not forget Turkey’s help.
AMISOM Officers Donate Blood For Mogadishu Bomb Blast Victims
17 October – Source: AMISOM – 357 Words
The African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) officers yesterday organised a blood donation drive in support of victims of the recent terror attack in Mogadishu. Lt. Gen. Osman Noor Soubagleh who led the drive at the AMISOM Force Headquarters urged both officers and civilians to turn up in large numbers and donate blood in aid of the bomb victims. “As AMISOM, it’s a good and simple thing to donate blood; but we are ready to sacrifice our blood and lives,” the Force Commander said.
Last Saturday, Al-Shabaab detonated a truck full of explosives at a busy junction in Mogadishu city, killing innocent civilians. Hundreds of residents injured in the blast are admitted in various hospitals in Mogadishu and many are in urgent need of blood. The AMISOM Force Commander condemned the act of targeting innocent members of the public, and termed Al-Shabaab an enemy of humanity.
“I want to send a message to Somalis that Al-Shabaab is an enemy of the people and of humanity. If such persons were normal, they would not have targeted the ordinary population. One should not think that Al-Shabaab is fighting AMISOM or the Somali security forces or other troops in the country. They should know that Al-Shabaab is the enemy of all existing Somalis,” noted Lt. Gen. Soubagleh.
OPINION, ANALYSIS AND CULTURE
“The bombings were carried out by drivers of two trucks, crammed with explosives, who drove through multiple checkpoints on a tightly patrolled highway. Their easy access raised questions over whether Shabab infiltrators had compromised security. “No one likes to talk about this, partly because it’s difficult to quantify,” Professor Anderson said. “It’s widely accepted that most of the institutions and organs of the Somali state are infiltrated by the Shabab.”
Somalia Blasts Expose Security Failings And Possible Al-Shabaab Infiltration
16 October – Source: The New York Times – 1029 Words
Car bombs, grenade attacks, assassinations and abductions by Shabab insurgents shatter the fragile veneer of calm in Somalia with such regularity that barely a week goes by without a deadly assault. Two large explosions occur on average in Mogadishu, the capital, every month. In June, more than 30 people were killed when militants stormed a popular restaurant in the city. Politicians and businessmen have been shot dead in broad daylight. Aid workers have been kidnapped, scores of civilians gunned down or killed in roadside bombs. The violence is so pervasive that embassies are inside the international airport.
But even by Somalia’s standards, the twin truck bombings this past Saturday in Mogadishu that killed more than 270 people, including at least three Somali-Americans, were unusual in their scale and brutality. Although the Shabab, Somalia’s Islamist extremist organization, has not publicly claimed responsibility, its members are thought to have orchestrated the attack, one of the country’s most destructive, and may have even received inside help.
Some Somalis are referring to the attack as their 9/11, and the president has declared three days of mourning. Even a reformed Shabab leader was seen donating blood to victims, calling on his former colleagues, some of whom have proclaimed allegiance to Al Qaeda while others support the Islamic State, to renounce violence as he had done. “There is no other solution than to unite and fight against the people” behind the attacks, he told reporters.
As rescuers continued to pull bodies from the rubble, many expressed fears that the country could slip under total control of the Islamist group. It has waged a battle against the government for more than a decade to try to impose its version of a strict Islamic code, and has recently stepped up attacks in Mogadishu, where the government survives under the protection of international forces.
There are also worries about what will happen if those international forces withdraw from Somalia, which could happen as early as next year. The government has come under intense criticism for a conspicuous policing failure that helped enable the truck bombers. “The security was absolutely weak,” said Mohamed Abdirahman Mohamed, a student at Mogadishu University. Mohamed Sharif, another student, described it as a “disaster.” Though he is no stranger to explosions, he said, this one was of a kind “I’ve never heard before.”
In one early sign of the political fallout, Somalia’s Internal Security Ministry said that its spokesman, Ahmed Sayid Arab, had resigned and that a replacement had been appointed. The African Union, which has about 22,000 troops stationed in Somalia, warned that it was “now clear that without adequate and appropriate support in Somalia, many of the security gains made in recent years could be reversed.”
This summer, Somali lawmakers and some international donors claimed to have seriously weakened the Shabab amid efforts by the United States and African-backed forces, called Amisom, to wrest control of Shabab-held territories and kill key figures of the organization in drone strikes. At a conference in London in May, world powers agreed on plans to support and train Somalia’s army and take over a task currently performed by African Union troops.
TOP TWEETS
@M_Farmaajo: HE @IsmailOguelleh has shared the pain with us and has been swift in response to this massacre. #Djibouti, has always stood with us, for us
@Goobjoognews: #BREAKING: US military plane carrying medical supplies in support of Mogadishu terror attack victims lands in #Mogadishu #MogadishuTruckBomb
@DalsanFM: BREAKING #KENYA to evacuate 31 victims of Saturday #MogadishuTruckBomb to #Nairobi says FM Minister@AMB_A_Mohammed
@Asmali77: Huge turnout for the blood donation exercise in Eastleigh. Overwhelmed by the outpouring of love for Mogadishu victims. #KenyansForSomalia
@HarunMaruf: Profile of @AaminAmbulance, Mogadishu’s saviours
http://mobile.reuters.com/
@CNNAfrica: The Eiffel Tower went dark yesterday to pay tribute to the victims of the car bombings in Mogadishu.#Somalia
@randomrisk: Over 300 Killed in Deadliest Single Attack in Somalia’s History http://www.cosmopolitan.com/
IMAGE OF THE DAY
His Excellency President Mohamed Abdullahi Farmaajo welcomes a delegation of doctors from Djibouti led by their health minister Jamaac Elmi Cokane to help the victims of Saturdays terror attack in Mogadishu.
Photo: Radio Muqdisho