The President of the Federal Republic of Somalia, HE Hassan Sheikh Mohamud has strongly condemned the attack this morning on Hotel Sahafi, and has sent condolences to the nation, families and the relatives of the innocent people slain by al-Shabaab.
The President stated, “This morning, Hotel Sahafi was attacked by al Shabaab. As al-Shabaab is increasingly pushed out of their hiding places through the concerted and successful military actions of the Somali National Army and AMISOM, they seek to wreak havoc in our cities.”
“Let me assure you, these are not the actions of a movement on the rise. On the contrary, this is the action of an increasingly desperate, internally-divided group of extremists. They are not sure what they stand for, or whom they are following, and seek to grab the headlines through killing innocent Muslims.”
“Our security forces have full control of the situation. There will be a full and thorough investigation of how this happened, and how the security forces’ response can be improved.”
“May Allah rest their souls of those who were slain in eternal paradise. The best way we can honour them is to renew and redouble our efforts to prevent extremists from distorting the faith of our fathers, and leading people astray in their quest for brutality and destruction. We must do this by confronting their warped ideology and liberating Somalia from them entirely.
“It is the top priority of my government to improve the ability and capacity of the Somali security sector so that we can rid Somalia of extremists, protect our national interests and preserve the peace and state integrity of Somalia,” the President concluded.
–ENDS—
