Somali President, Mohamed Abdullahi Farmajo has condemned the heinous attack on Kismayo hotel in southern Somalia.
On Friday evening, Vehicle Borne Improvised Explosive Device (VBIED) bomb went off at hotel in Somalia’s port city of Kismayu where local elders and lawmakers had been discussing an upcoming regional election and was followed by gunfire.
In a statement, the president condoled with families and friends of the victims killed in the attack.
“We belong to Allah and to Allah we shall return. The attack in Kismayu indicates the root of the target of the enemy of Somalia which they massacre the prominent and well as our people,” the statement reads in part.
The president directed the security forces in Jubbaland to be put on high alert to maintain peace and foil al-Shabaab attacks planned to harm the public.
State-run Somali National News Agency said in a statement Prime Minister Hassan Ali Khaire had also condemned the attack.
Al-Shabaab claimed the responsibility for the attack saying its fighters killed several government officials and soldiers.
The group was driven out of Kismayo which is the commercial capital of Jubbaland state in 2012.
The city’s port had been a major source of revenue for the group from taxes, charcoal exports, and levies on arms and other illegal imports.
