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Somalia\u2019s President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud on Tuesday pledged \u201can all-out war\u201d to eliminate Al-Shabaab in his first statement to the nation since the jihadists staged a deadly 30-hour hotel siege in Mogadishu.<\/p>\n
The attack, which began on Friday night, was the biggest to hit Somalia\u2019s capital since Mohamud took office in June and underscored the challenge of trying to crush the 15-year insurgency by the Al-Qaeda-linked group.<\/p>\n
At least 21 people died and 117 others were wounded in the gun and bomb attack targeting the popular Hayat Hotel, with the fatalities including Norwegian citizens, according to Norway\u2019s government.<\/p>\n
\u201cI know that the Somali people are fed up with the endless condolences and mourning, I know that you lose respectable people in every attack carried out by the terrorists,\u201d Mohamud said.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo I call upon you to be prepared for an all-out war against the ruthless (people) who are hostile to our peace,\u201d he said in a statement released by the office of the president.
\nMohamud convened a national security committee meeting on Tuesday, attended by the prime minister, interior minister, and foreign minister, as well as the country\u2019s defense chiefs.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are determined to weaken the terrorists who destroy our people till all the areas they control are liberated, this is a priority for our government and the preparation and implementation of that plan is ongoing,\u201d he said, without elaborating.<\/p>\n
The Hayat was a favored meeting spot for government officials and scores of people were inside when a suicide bomber triggered a massive blast, enabling heavily-armed gunmen to enter the hotel.<\/p>\n
Minutes later, a second explosion struck as rescuers, security forces and civilians rushed to help the injured, witnesses said.<\/p>\n
The siege only ended at around midnight Saturday after security forces bombarded the building, leaving much of it in ruins.<\/p>\n
Mohamud, who was elected in May after a protracted political crisis, said last month that ending the insurgency required more than a military approach, but that his government would negotiate with Al-Shabaab only when the time was right.<\/p>\n
The group has carried out several attacks in the mainly Muslim country since Mohamud took office.<\/p>\n
Last month, it also mounted an incursion into neighboring Ethiopia and raided a military base on the border.<\/p>\n
The Islamist militants, who espouse a strict version of sharia or Islamic law, were driven out of Mogadishu by an African Union force in 2011.<\/p>\n
But they still control swathes of countryside and retain the ability to launch deadly strikes, often hitting hotels and restaurants as well as military and political targets.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Somalia\u2019s President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud on Tuesday pledged \u201can all-out war\u201d to eliminate Al-Shabaab in his first statement to the nation since the jihadists staged a deadly 30-hour hotel siege in Mogadishu. The attack, which began on Friday night, was the biggest to hit Somalia\u2019s capital since Mohamud took office in June and underscored the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":181285,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"facebook_10221280388112155_325455220908133":"","twitter_917774835383787521_917774835383787521":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/wardoon.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/182191"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/wardoon.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/wardoon.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wardoon.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wardoon.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=182191"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/wardoon.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/182191\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":182192,"href":"http:\/\/wardoon.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/182191\/revisions\/182192"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wardoon.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/181285"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/wardoon.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=182191"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wardoon.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=182191"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wardoon.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=182191"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}