Somalia hotel bomber identified: Spy agency

Thursday July 30, 2015

Security forces secure the scene next to destroyed vehicles following a suicide car bomb attack in the capital Mogadishu, Somalia in this July 26, 2015 photo.

MOGADISHU: Somalia’s intelligence agency on Wednesday identified a suicide truck bomber who attacked a hotel in Mogadishu as a 30-year-old Somali who had lived in Germany but returned to join the Shabab.

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A statement from the National Security and Intelligence Agency (NISA) also said the death toll from the massive explosion on Sunday had risen to 17, with more than 10 others wounded.

“The attacker was 30-year-old Abdirasak Muse Buh. He was born in Tripoli in Libya, and lived in Bonn, Germany. Abdirasak returned to the country in 2012 through Egypt,” the agency said in a statement.

It added that Abdirasak joined the Al-Qaeda-affiliated Shabab in 2013 after being convinced to join by other members of the Somali diaspora.

The agency did not confirm if Abdirasak also held German nationality.

Sunday’s attack ripped an outer wall from the six-story Jazeera Palace Hotel, which was popular with government officials and foreign visitors and housed three diplomatic missions, including China’s.

The Shabab has a long history of attracting radicalized members of Somalia’s far-flung diaspora as well as foreign fighters, although its appeal has been overshadowed in recently by the rise of Daesh and other newly ascendant militant groups. The group is fighting to overthrow the internationally-backed government in Mogadishu.

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