Terrorist Attack on Somalia
This past Saturday, an explosion occurred in the capital city of Mogadishu. The attack killed more than 300 people and injured more than 300.
Two truck bomb explosions were reported to be Al-Qaeda linked. Officials have reported that this is the most massive, deadliest attack to happen in Somalia. President Mohamed Abdullahi declared a 3 day mourning period for the ravaged country.
Somalia government has stated that the event occurred at the hands of al-Shabab extremist group. This jihadist group is known to target areas of high profile of the capital. The group has promised to carry out more attacks as a result of announced bilateral military efforts with the Trump administration against the group. Many are outraged because of the lack of media coverage of this massive attack. Emily Dauth a senior at harborfields says “ A lot of horrible things happen every day throughout the world but a lot of attention is focused on things closer to home. Even more recently the news has been focusing on all the hurricanes and tropical storms that have been happening, but not addressing issues such as this one.”
Why has terrorism in Somalia gone unnoticed? Many have said they felt as though it’s unjust that Las Vegas shooting gets a bizarre amount of coverage and support, while the incident in Somalia is going unnoticed. Senior Lauren Banks stated, “I just think it’s not really fair that a lot of people have died and no one knows or is mourning them.”
The US stated that, “Such cowardly attacks reinvigorate the commitment of the United States to assist our Somali and African Union partners to combat the scourge of terrorism to promote stability and prosperity for the Somali people and their regional neighbors.”
Many people are left with nothing, and Somalia need for help is so extensive that President Abdullahi has issued a plea for blood donations to aid the wounded.
Fortunately, International aid is on course to help Somalia. According to the Miami Herald, “A United States military plane landed in Somalia's capital Tuesday with medical and humanitarian aid supplies. Dozens of critically injured have been airlifted to Turkey for treatment. A medical team from Djibouti arrived Monday to evacuate the wounded. Kenya will evacuate 31 injured Somalis from Mogadishu for specialized treatment in Nairobi and send 11 tons of medicine and supplies to Somalia, Kenya announced Tuesday.”
All in all, death tolls are rising and the country of Somalia is in desperate need of aid to help them through their most devastating attack yet. Since the attack, thounands of Somali’s have marched through the capitcal city of Mogadishu in opposition to the the terrorist attack.