HOTEL ATTACK IN MOGADISHU – WHEN IS ENOUGH ENOUGH
(Posted 11th December 2019)
(Pictures taken from SYL Hotel’s Facebook page)
Questions are again being asked how such attacks continue to be possible, at the loss of many lives in each case.
Whenever terrorists strike in the heart of Mogadishu is security swiftly stepped up, which is like closing the gates of the barn after the horses have escaped already.
Given enough time does vigilance then reduce, complacency creeps in and hey presto, another opening exists for the Al Shabab group to plan and execute another deadly terror strike.
This endless cycle needs to be broken and security needs to be as alert weeks and months after an attack, as they show off immediately after one took place.
Meanwhile is it the SYL Hotel, popular with the who is who in Somali political circles and close to the Presidential Palace, which was attacked this time.
Reports coming in speak of about 100 guests of the hotel having been rescued already by security forces while the terrorists continue to be holed up inside the hotel, exchanging fire and apparently looking for hotel guests and staff to take hostage.
No information was available on the number of people killed or wounded in the attack other than two attackers which were shot by police before they could get into the hotel compound.
The same hotel was attacked before, in February 2016 in a direct attack and then again later the same year in August, when a truck bomb detonated at an intersection nearby caused major damage to the hotel structure while killing over 20 people.
