Suspected Al-Shabaab militants fire mortars near Somalia’s Aden Abdulle airport
Sunday’s attack came barely hours after several mortars were fired late on Saturday near residential areas in the city, injuring several people and damaging property, according to local authorities and witnesses.
At least four mortars were fired Sunday morning near Somalia’s Aden Abdulle International Airport in the capital Mogadishu, which is adjacent to the African Union Stabilisation and Support Mission (AUSSOM) headquarters, which also houses many foreign embassies in Halane.
The attack prompted residents to take cover, though no casualties have been reported.
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"Four mortars have been fired into the airport and AU base. Two of them landed in the sea, and the other two landed inside Halane, but they have not caused any casualties. Airport operations are ongoing; I can see planes landing and taking off as if nothing happened," Jaylani Haji, a father of four children who lives adjacent to the airport told The Eastleigh Voice.
Haji said the mortar bombs forced him and his family to leave their house and take cover.
“My four children and myself took cover under sandbags at the airport fence. Mortars are very dangerous, and if they hit a house, they leave a lot of damage. It was really terrifying as it awoke us from our deep sleep,” he said.
Aden Abdulle International Airport (AAIA) is in a scenic area adjacent to the Indian Ocean, with its runaway meters away from the sea.
The airport is located east of the capital city and within its precincts houses the AUSSOM base and most foreign diplomatic compounds including the Kenyan embassy to Somalia.
Mogadishu has, for a while now, enjoyed a long, peaceful spell compared to its bloody past.
The city is developing fast, and the international airport is one the busiest in the region, with thousands of Somalis returning to help rebuild their country.
Residents said the airport and the AU, UN headquarters, as well as many foreign embassy compounds are fitted with an automatic alarm system that gives warnings of incoming mortar attacks.
The alarms were overheard early Sunday morning, moments before impact. The gadget can even deflect mortar bombs.
No group has claimed responsibility for this latest attack. However, Al-Shabaab has claimed similar mortars fired into the airport in the past.
The last attack was in mid-February when Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed visited Mogadishu. President Hassan was at the airport to welcome him.
Sunday’s attack came barely hours after several mortars were fired late on Saturday into residential areas in the city, injuring several people and damaging property, according to local authorities and witnesses.
The Somali government has not issued a statement on the attack on the airport. However, airport operations are said to be uninterrupted amid tight security at several entry points.
The Somali government has declared a total war on Al-Shabaab, and there is an active battle ongoing in the frontlines far away from the capital Mogadishu.
Prime Minister Hamza Abdi Barre was the latest senior government official to visit the frontlines last week to celebrate Eid-ul-Fitr with the government forces in the middle Shabelle region to show support for the ongoing Al-Shabaab offensive.
“Al-Shabaab do not have any development plans for the country and the Somali public have come to know their hostile intentions,” he told forces and urged the public to support the government in ongoing operations against Al-Shabaab for Somalia to enjoy lasting peace and stability.
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