On 16 August 2020, al-Shabaab killed 11 or 12 people at the Elite Hotel in

Mogadishu Mogadishu (, also ; so, Muqdisho or ; ar, مقديشو ; it, Mogadiscio ), locally known as Xamar or Hamar, is the capital and most populous city of Somalia. The city has served as an important port connecting traders across the Indian Oc ...

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 ...

Background

The

Somali Civil War The Somali Civil War ( so, Dagaalkii Sokeeye ee Soomaaliya; ar, الحرب الأهلية الصومالية ) is an ongoing civil war that is taking place in Somalia. It grew out of resistance to the military junta which was led by Siad Bar ...

began in 1991. Al-Shabaab are a

jihadist Jihadism is a neologism which is used in reference to "militant Islamic movements that are perceived as existentially threatening to the West" and "rooted in political Islam."Compare: Appearing earlier in the Pakistani and Indian media, Wes ...

group who began an

insurgency An insurgency is a violent, armed rebellion against authority waged by small, lightly armed bands who practice guerrilla warfare from primarily rural base areas. The key descriptive feature of insurgency is its asymmetric nature: small irr ...

in the country in 2008, since when they have frequently carried out attacks there. The most common location of their attacks is the capital Mogadishu, and hotels are one of their favoured types of target. Less often, they attack

Kenya ) , national_anthem = " Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"() , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Nairobi , coordinates = , largest_city = Nairobi ...

and

Uganda }), is a landlocked country in East Africa. The country is bordered to the east by Kenya, to the north by South Sudan, to the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to the south-west by Rwanda, and to the south by Tanzania. The sou ...

. They control part of southern Somalia and are trying to take over the whole country and implement a severe version of Sharia law.

Attack

On 16 August 2020, al-Shabaab

detonate Detonation () is a type of combustion involving a supersonic exothermic front accelerating through a medium that eventually drives a shock front propagating directly in front of it. Detonations propagate supersonically through shock waves with ...

d a car bomb at the recently-built high-end Elite Hotel in Lido Beach in the Somali capital Mogadishu. They then opened fire using assault rifles. A

siege A siege is a military blockade of a city, or fortress, with the intent of conquering by attrition, or a well-prepared assault. This derives from la, sedere, lit=to sit. Siege warfare is a form of constant, low-intensity conflict characteriz ...

lasted four hours, until all five insurgents were killed by Somali special forces; at least 43 people were injured.

References

2020 mass shootings in Africa 2020 murders in Somalia 2020 building bombings 2020 hotel attack 21st-century mass murder in Somalia 2020 hotel attack Attacks on buildings and structures in 2020 2020 hotel attack Attacks on hotels in Somalia August 2020 crimes in Africa Building bombings in Somalia Car and truck bombings in Somalia Car and truck bombings in the 2020s Hotel bombings Improvised explosive device bombings in 2020 2020 hotel attack Mass murder in 2020 2020 hotel attack Mass shootings in Somalia Terrorist incidents in Somalia in 2020 {{Somali Civil War (2009–present)

Background

Attack

See also

References