On February 19, 2022, an al-Shabaab

suicide bomber A suicide attack is any violent Strike (attack), attack, usually entailing the attacker detonating an explosive, where the attacker has suicide, accepted their own death as a direct result of the attacking method used. Suicide attacks have oc ...

killed 14 people at a restaurant in

Beledweyne Beledweyne ( so, Beledweyne, ar, بلد وين, it, Belet Uen) is a city in central Somalia. Beledweyne District is the capital city of the Hiran region. The city is situated in the Shebelle Valley riverine near the Ethiopian border, 210 miles ...

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 Islamist

militant The English word ''militant'' is both an adjective and a noun, and it is generally used to mean vigorously active, combative and/or aggressive, especially in support of a cause, as in "militant reformers". It comes from the 15th century Latin " ...

group al-Shabaab – the Somali branch of

al-Qaeda Al-Qaeda (; , ) is an Islamic extremism, Islamic extremist organization composed of Salafist jihadists. Its members are mostly composed of Arab, Arabs, but also include other peoples. Al-Qaeda has mounted attacks on civilian and military ta ...

– began their

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 irregu ...

during the 2006–2009 phase of 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 dictatorship, military junta wh ...

. They took part in battles in Beledweyne, Hiran,

Hirshabelle State Hirshabelle, officially Hirshabelle State of Somalia ( Somali: ''Dowlad Goboleedka Hirshabelle ee Soomaaliya''), is a Federal Member State in south-central Somalia. It is bordered by Galmudug state of Somalia to the north, South West State ...

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

and

2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrate ...

. In 2009, they carried out a suicide

car bomb A car bomb, bus bomb, lorry bomb, or truck bomb, also known as a vehicle-borne improvised explosive device (VBIED), is an improvised explosive device designed to be detonated in an automobile or other vehicles. Car bombs can be roughly divided ...

ing at a hotel there, killing 57 people. In 2013, they carried out suicide attacks there at a restaurant and a

police station A police station (sometimes called a "station house" or just "house") is a building which serves to accommodate police officers and other members of staff. These buildings often contain offices and accommodation for personnel and vehicles, al ...

Bombing

During the morning of February 19, 2022, a suicide bomber

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 s ...

d a bomb in a restaurant in Beledweyene. It killed 14 people – including a candidate in the same month's election – and injured at least another 12. On the same day, al-Shabaab claimed responsibility for the attack.

Aftermath

On 23 March 2022, two more suicide bombings killed over 30 people. The first one killed

Amina Mohamed Abdi Amina Mohamed Abdi ( so, Aamina Maxamed Cabdi; 21 October 1981 – 23 March 2022) was a Somali politician, she was an MP in the Federal Parliament of Somalia from 2012 till her death, as a member of the opposition Union for Peace and Development ...

and many of her bodyguards, while the second was a

car bombing A car bomb, bus bomb, lorry bomb, or truck bomb, also known as a vehicle-borne improvised explosive device (VBIED), is an improvised explosive device designed to be detonated in an automobile or other vehicles. Car bombs can be roughly divided ...

against a hospital in Beledweyne.

References

2022 murders in Somalia 2020s building bombings 21st-century mass murder in Somalia February 2022 crimes in Africa February 2022 events in Africa Attacks on buildings and structures in 2022 Islamic terrorist incidents in 2022 Mass murder in 2022 Suicide bombings in 2022 Terrorist incidents in Somalia in 2022 Al-Shabaab (militant group) attacks Attacks on restaurants in Africa Building bombings in Somalia Suicide bombings in Somalia Somali Civil War (2009–present) Terrorist incidents in Beledweyne {{terrorism-stub

Background

Bombing

Aftermath

See also

References