Six people were pronounced dead, including two children, and fourteen others were critically wounded after a deadly suicide bombing Sunday, September 2^nd. Among the injured were Ibrahim Hassan Matan, the deputy district commissioner, and six children. The attack occurred at a government office in Mogadishu, Somalia’s capital. Three who died from the attack were security officers trying to prevent the bomb-filled car from getting through a security checkpoint. Three others killed were civilians struck by bomb shrapnel and flying debris after it detonated near the office building. The bomb was detonated from within the car, near the gate to the Hawlwadag district headquarters. The government building was destroyed by the bombing, a roof was blown off a nearby mosque, and a school collapsed. The al-Shabab, an al-Qaeda linked group, claimed responsibility for the attack. Captain Hussein said that the Shabab, which often selects targets in the capital “failed to achieve their goal of inflicting maximum casualties.” (source: NY Times)

According to Aljazeera, the al-Shabab’s military spokesperson, Abdiasis Abu Musab, stated, “We are behind the suicide attack, we targeted the district office in which there was a meeting. We killed 10 people so far, we will give details later.” Al-shabab, also known as the movement of striving youth, is a jihadist fundamentalist group based in East Africa, which in 2012 pledged allegiance to Al-Qaeda. Aljazeera states that the al-Shabab usually report more causalities than what actually occurred. However, the attack was nothing to gloss over. Raqiya Mahamed Ali, who was present on the scene, told Aljazeera that she “hid under the table. There was a lot of gunfire at our gate… when I came out, I saw many people injured on the ground and others dead.” The group has claimed other bombings, including one a truck bomb set off in 2017 that killed 517 people and injured many others.

The al-Shabab have been carrying out similar attacks for over a decade, leaving much of Somalia a constant war zone. Al-Shabab translates to The Youth in Arabic, which began as part of Somalia’s Union of Islamic Courts, but the radical group soon broke off and strengthened their following. The Union of Islamic Courts ruled over Somalia at one point but was driven out in 2006 by Ethiopians. Al-Shabab’s presence has since been driven out of many urban areas, but they still target district and rural areas of Somalia, concentrating mainly in the south of Somalia. The al-Shabab have stated that they are angered by support the UN backed government has gained in Mogadishu and have used bomb threats as an effort to overcome those influences.

This UN backed government was created in 2012. The United Nations states that “following an extended transitional period, the Provisional Federal Constitution of Somalia was agreed upon through a broad-based consultation process, and a new Federal Parliament and Government were selected.” Al Jazeera’s Osama Bin Javaid said, “as the war, which began in the 1990s, goes on, Somali civilians continue to suffer.” This ongoing war began with the removal of Mohamed Siad Barre which triggered a civil war between rival warlords, according to BBC. As a result of this conflict, Somaliland and Puntland broke away from Somalia. Somalia has not had a functional government for 20 years and as a result had remained a war zone for much of that period. Their last democratic election occurred in 1969, and many Somalis have lost hope that one will ever happen again.

Despite the efforts to spread government influence in Somalia, the nation is still plagued by separatist efforts, and many areas in the south are still under al-Shabab’s control. The al-Shabab deny the Somali people the most basic human rights, increasing the urgency for their removal. According to BBC, “Basic services such as street lighting, dry cleaning and rubbish collection have resumed in the capital,” but these services are still not offered in the countryside where the al-Shabab retain control. Additionally, the al-Shabab strictly interprets the Sharia, meaning they support stoning women accused of adultery, and removing the hands of thieves.

Besides the UN’s efforts to remove the al-Shabab, Donald Trump approved a plan to escalate military operations against al-Shabab in March 2017. Such efforts have led to the weakening of the al-Shabab, but they still carry out suicide bombings and retain control in some areas. Since the al-Shabab still carry out these missions and continue their influence, the UN and other supporters of Somali’s government need to work harder to expel the al-Shabab and weaken them further. Efforts to remove al-Shabab presence must be pursued, not only for the good of those directly affected by their control, but to protect those in the capital and ensure that the government can work effectively.