The African Union (AU) has said that Sunday’s attack by Al Shabaab on a hotel near Somalia’s Presidential Palace shows that «the terrorists have lost on the battlefield,» amid intensified offensives against the terrorist group.
«The heinous siege and attack indicate that the terrorists have lost on the battlefields, where the brave Somali security forces continue to inflict heavy losses on Al Shabaab and recapture large portions of territory previously controlled by the terrorists,» said the head of the AU Transitional Mission in Somalia (ATMIS), Mohamed el Amine Souef.
He stressed that «these heinous attacks on innocent people underline once again the need for more decisive action against terrorism», while applauding the role of the security forces in putting an end to the assault on the Villa Rossa Hotel.
The attack resulted in the death of eight civilians, authorities said Monday after ending the assault by killing the terrorists who remained barricaded inside the hotel. In addition, 60 others were rescued by officers, who killed five attackers. A sixth one blew himself up at the beginning of the assault.
Somalia has in recent months stepped up offensives against Al Shabaab with the support of local clans and militias as part of a series of decisions taken by President Hassan Shaykh Mohamud, who pledged on taking office to put the fight against terrorism at the center of his efforts to stabilize the African country.
