SAA event in Somalia on Sun 11th February 2024

At least five people, including three UAE soldiers and one military officer from Bahrain, were killed in an attack on a military base in the Somali capital Mogadishu on February 11, 2024. Two others were injured in the attack.

The attack took place at the General Gordon military base in Mogadishu on Saturday night, the UAE Defense Ministry said. The Emirati personnel were present in Mogadishu to train soldiers from the Somali Armed Forces as part of an agreement between the UAE and Somalia, the ministry added.

According to some media reports, a gunman, who was also a newly trained military personnel from the Somali Armed Forces, opened fire on his fellow soldiers. “The soldier opened fire on UAE trainers and Somali military officials when they started praying,” the official statement said.

Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud condemned the attack and instructed Somalia’s security agencies to conduct a thorough and urgent investigation.

Mohamud said in a social media post following the incident, “We offer our condolences to our brothers in the sisterly United Arab Emirates, the government and people, for the martyrdom of the officers who fell in the heinous terrorist operation that took place in Mogadishu.”

“While we condemn in the strongest terms this heinous act, we praise the valor and sacrifice of these officers and value their fraternal role in liberating Somalia from terrorism and rebuilding our armed forces,” he added.

A senior UAE diplomat Anwar Gargash also offered condolences to those killed and a quick recovery for those wounded on the social media platform, saying: “No treacherous act will prevent us from continuing the message of security and safety and combating extremism and terrorism in all its forms.”

The UAE has said it would cooperate with the Somali government in investigating what it called a terrorist attack and reiterated its resolve to combat terrorism and maintain peace and stability in the region.

The Al-Qaeda-linked terror group Al-Shabaab claimed responsibility for the attack. Harakat Al-Shabaab Al-Mujahideen, commonly referred to as Al-Shabaab is a military and political organization.

Al-Shabaab operates primarily in Somalia and waged an insurgency against the Somali government since 2006 in an attempt to establish its own rule. The organization is also active in other parts of East Africa.

The group actively participates in the ongoing Somali Civil War, blending elements of Somali nationalism with its Islamist objectives. Since 2012, al-Shabaab has pledged allegiance to the militant pan-Islamist organization Al-Qaeda. Additionally, there are suspicions of its connections with Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb and Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.