On 18 March 2014, a car loaded with explosives detonated outside the Hotel Amalo in

Buloburde Buloburde, also spelled Buloburti or Bulobarde, is a city in Somalia's central Hiran region. Overview Buloburde is situated along the Shabelle River, near Jalalaqsi. It is the center of the Buloburde District. In March 2014, Somali Armed For ...

Somalia Somalia, , Osmanya script: 𐒈𐒝𐒑𐒛𐒐𐒘𐒕𐒖; ar, الصومال, aṣ-Ṣūmāl officially the Federal Republic of SomaliaThe ''Federal Republic of Somalia'' is the country's name per Article 1 of thProvisional Constituti ...

, which was used by

African Union The African Union (AU) is a continental union consisting of 55 member states located on the continent of Africa. The AU was announced in the Sirte Declaration in Sirte, Libya, on 9 September 1999, calling for the establishment of the Africa ...

and Somali troops who had captured the town from Al-Shabaab a week earlier. Gunfire was reported to have followed for five hours, the car bombing having occurred around 02:00 local time (23:00 UTC). At least 27 people were killed in the attack.

Overview

The town of Buloburde had been controlled by Al-Shabaab for five years, until being captured by African Union and Somali forces around a week prior to the attack. After the car bombing at the hotel, the town was stormed by Al-Shabaab-fighters, attacking high-ranking mainly

Djibouti Djibouti, ar, جيبوتي ', french: link=no, Djibouti, so, Jabuuti officially the Republic of Djibouti, is a country in the Horn of Africa, bordered by Somalia to the south, Ethiopia to the southwest, Eritrea in the north, and the Red ...

an and Somali officers. Initial claims by Al-Shabaab said that over thirty soldiers had been killed and more than eighty injured, while Somali officials reported six to twelve to have been killed and twenty injured. Four Al-Shabaab militants were reportedly among the dead. According to a later report citing the Norwegian Police Security Service (PST) in September 2015, at least 27 people were killed in the attack. The suicide bomber was identified as 60-year-old Burhan Ahmed Abdule, who had lived in

Halden Halden (), between 1665 and 1928 known as Fredrikshald, is both a town and a municipality in Viken county, Norway. The municipality borders Sarpsborg to the northwest, Rakkestad to the north and Aremark to the east, as well as the Swedish muni ...

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

since 2005 as a respected family man and immigrant role model, as well as Labour Party-supporter who was once photographed as part of an immigrant delegation who met Prime Minister

Jens Stoltenberg Jens Stoltenberg (born 16 March 1959) is a Norwegian politician who has been serving as the 13th secretary general of NATO since 2014. A member of the Norwegian Labour Party, he previously served as the 34th prime minister of Norway from 2000 to ...

in the Norwegian parliament. In September 2014, the Norwegian Police Security Service (PST) concluded that Abdule took part in the attack, making him the first known suicide bomber with ties to Norway (he has later been followed by others). In a pre-attack interview published by Al-Shabaab, Abdule states to have been a member of the Al-Qaida-affiliated Al-Itihaad al-Islamiya (AIAI) group for thirteen years prior to joining its successor Al-Shabaab in 2006.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hotel Amalo attack 2014 crimes in Somalia Al-Shabaab (militant group) attacks Suicide bombings in 2014 Suicide car and truck bombings in Somalia Car and truck bombings in 2014 Hotel bombings in Somalia Islamic terrorist incidents in 2014 March 2014 crimes in Africa 2014 building bombings Mass murder in 2014 Somali Civil War (2009–present) 21st-century mass murder in Somalia Terrorist incidents in Somalia in 2014 Foreign relations of the African Union 2014 in international relations

Overview

See also

References