Report on the Alshabaab attack on SYL hotel in mogadishu

 

After a 3 hours online meeting with a group of Cyber security analysts today,using Human intelligence, open source intelligence,counter intelligence,Psychological intelligence,counter terrorism sources and observations.we came up with a conclusion on the Thursday night attack on SYL hotel in Mogadishu. The report is as follows.

Death toll rises to 31 as per local hospitals, survivors and responders.

46 injured including six MPs, security people, commander of Haramcad police unit, several officials at the Banadir Regional Administration, the spokesperson for the Prime Minister's Office and a journalist.

It took 17 hours to end the siege (from 21.41 pm Thursday to 3.00pm Friday). The siege was ended thanks to the support provided by the U.S-trained unit Gaashaan. 

The attack targeted the hotel while clan politicians and government security/militia commanders were meeting. However, it's important to note that the hotel also serves as a residence for dozens of MPs and politicians.

Total Al-Shabaab attackers confirmed to be 7.  Only 5 bodies were found - they were wearing civilian clothes. The two others are missing.  The attackers were able to communicate to Al-Shabaab radio and broadcast live reporting from the hotel. Their audio voices were transmitted via Telegram channels. 

The brand new Toyota vehicle-borne improvised explosive device (VBIED) used for the first explosion also brought weapons for the attackers moments before they stormed the hotel perimeter. Security sources confirm the vehicle came through the Sayidka Junction security checkpoint. This is the main reason Hassan Mohamud was angry and decided to visit and see the CCTV monitoring room inside HSNQ NISA headquarters.

A second explosion took place in the middle of the attack but details are still shady. Both explosions also damaged nearby civilian buildings with possible casualties as the area is densely populated. 

The SYL Hotel was one of the most heavily guarded buildings in Mogadishu. Not only is it situated in the vicinity of the presidential palace commonly known as Villa Somalia, but it also serves as a primary residence and central hub for government officials and security personnel, particularly those working within the presidency, the Office of the Prime Minister, Parliament, and officials at the district level in Mogadishu.

If you have not been to Mogadishu, you need to note that there are six different checkpoints surrounded to this small area.The check points are Sayidka, Shimbiraale, 15 May, Boondheere, Daljirka, and  Ceelgaabta. All these checkpoints are strict and manned by heavily armed presidential guards plus NISA officers.  Civilian cars without certain gov't IDs are not permitted at all. There have been numerous threat alerts against this hotel and others that have been well publicized months ago.The Thursday night's attack occurs amidst significant developments: the planned reshuffle of cabinet ministers and and removal of security officials, including Mahad Salad of HSNQ NISA. It's a common occurrence in Mogadishu that whenever someone feels their position is threatened, they resort to compromise and plot to derail proceedings.

The hotel siege in Mogadishu on Thursday requires thorough investigation, accountability for perpetrators and plotters, and justice for the victims. It's evident that the incident has both political and terror-related dimensions that need to be addressed.

However ,many say the figures of the victims are being over exaggerated by Gorvenment opposition.Some hours there were reports that one of the attackers was a worker to the parliament which was later blandished fake by a number investigators.

"One of the attackers of the SYL hotel that led to death of 31 and 46 others injured is an employee of the Somali Federal Parliament.

He is not alone out of 7 terrorist attackers, only 5 were killed while 2 are still at large under hide.

Only a thorough investigation into NISA and its terrorist infiltrators is require.

We all need to team up to fight terrorism.

FOR GOD  AND MY COUNTRY

Alshabaab hijacks a hotel near the presidential palace

 

In this operation code names " Inghimasi" in somali ,Militants from the Islamist al-Shabab group have attacked a hotel near the presidential palace in Somalia's capital Mogadishu, security sources and witnesses said.

The group has attacked the Syl Hotel before, which is popular with government officials.

Witnesses reported blasts and gunfire coming from the hotel, telling Reuters that fighters were still inside.

It was not immediately clear if there were casualties.

"The armed Mujahideen control the hotel and are shooting workers and officers" of the government in the hotel, al-Shabab said in a statement claiming responsibility for the attack.

Resident Farah Ali, who lives near the president's office, told Reuters: "We first heard a huge blast, and then gunfire followed. We understand the fighters are inside [the hotel] for we hear exchange of gunfire."

"Several gunmen forced their way into the building after destroying the perimeter wall with a heavy explosion," a security officer told AFP.

Hassan Nur, who escaped by scaling a wall, said: "I don't know about the casualties but there were many people inside when the attack started."

Other witnesses reported seeing police arriving within minutes of the attack, which triggered a gun battle with militants.

Attacks had reduced in recent weeks amid heightened security after the government intensified its military offensive against the Islamist group.

Al-Shabab controls large parts of southern and central Somalia.

The group is affiliated to al-Qaeda and has waged a brutal insurgency for nearly 20 years against the UN-backed government in Somalia.

Somalia President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud on Thursday met defence officials to plan how to reclaim lost territory, Somalia's national news agency Sonna reported.

It is a proscribed terrorist group by countries including the UK and US. The US has intervened militarily to fight against the group.

Its fighters are known for targeting hotels, including the Syl Hotel in 2019.

In 2022, the group stormed the Villa Rays hotel in the capital, killing at least 14 people.

Three years before the storming of the Villa Rays hotel, at least 26 people, inclding a prominent journalist and several foreigners, were killed in an attack on the Asasey hotel in the port of Kismayo, southern Somalia.

This is almost the 11th hour since the siege and the alshabaab in a statement still claim tobbe holding the hotel,it is surprising how the alshabaab managed to beat all the road blocks and this hotel is only accessed by senior military officers only. According to confidants in somalia,this hotel is less than 500 meters away from both the presidential palace & the office of the Prime Minister.This raises questions about how AlShabab managed to infiltrate such a heavily guarded area of the city. 

 That is the alshabaab press statement released this morning.Alshabaab statement released this morning says the siege still ongoing, entered its 11th hour, with its fighters controlling the hotel.Alshabaab also said its militants repelled 7 attempts by govt forces to end the siege.

Information from my confidants and comrades from somalia indicate that this hotel is frequented by top political and military officers and undisclosed number of these have been wounded .

Some of the wounded and killed are listed below.

Ex Somali MP, Farah Abdi Hassan wounded in the ongoing attack at SYL hotel.

Spokesperson of OPM Somalia,  wounded in an ongoing attack on SYL hotel.

 MP, Osman Dhere, killed in an ongoing attack on SYL hotel

Abdihamid Fanah, Commander of the Turkish trained troops known as Haram'ad has been wounded in an ongoing attack on SYL hotel.

Wadajir deputy DC, Ali Indhoy injured in the ongoing attack at SYL hotel.

General Secretary of Banadir Region Administration, Feysal Arale, wounded in an ongoing attack on SYL hotel.

There are many disturbing video of alshabaab  patrolling the hotel and because of security reasons ,I cannot have them published here!

M23 preparing to lead an imcursion into Goma through a planned demonstration

 The elected national deputy for the city of Goma Hubert FURUGUTA said he was warning of a probable preparation for infiltration of the city of Goma by the rebels. According to the honorable Hubert, information from the authorized services indicates that these rebels are preparing to infiltrate among the demonstrators of an activity planned in Goma without mentioning it by name. This elected official added that this demonstration would begin in the area close to the border with Rwanda in order to facilitate said infiltration. He says he calls on the population to exercise extreme caution in this time of war, especially when it comes to participating in demonstrations.

Some adjustiment in death penalty ruling in DRC military courts

 

Another intelligence officer arrested for confiding with M23

 

The City of GOMA thought it had intelligence agents who help security agents do their job, but it is the opposite. After the arrest of two intelligence directors from the city of Goma for complicity with the M23RDF, here is again the Chief Warrant Officer CLARISSE_MAHORO. She is from Unit Bn HQ 34 of the North Kivu Military Region, and was arrested Tuesday March 12 in Goma. She held the position of intelligence agent of the 34th Military Region since 2014 at the Goma border post(commonly known as Grand barrier). She is accused of being the hub of the M23RDF in Goma. She has been in constant contact with colonel Makenga andBisimwa and helps move goods across the border into Rwanda. She maintains close ties with senior M23RDF executives,has been feeding ladies into GOMA for espionage operations and knows all the M23RDF hideouts in Goma.she takes images of the FARDC to feed the propaganda of the RDF terrorists on social media.She is the one who took the photos of Romanian instructors in the mortuary after attack on sake.This surprises more than one person because it is difficult to accept the fact that those responsible for intelligence, those who are supposed to guide the security services to bring order, are themselves in complicity. The question then is: have they really given good information to the FARDC since the start of this war?? Did they really help the DRC? Since the incident of Brigadier General Biagolo Ngondo,I have for two days invested much of my time into critical study of the traitors inside the Congolese military intelligence circles.These Biagolo and Clarisse incidence clearly show rot in  FARDC intelligence.I tried to make investigative research from ANR(domestic) and former DEMIAP members who told me that treason and traitors are the ones who have made this war difficult.These confidants informed me of a scenario in recent General Chiko command ,where his deputies had confided with enemy to have him arrested.They gave the enemy commander FARDC uniforms and commanded the army to withdraw from Rwindi,but a captain had already alerted General Chiko of the plan to have him betrayed by his deputies and he instead had to withdraw after knowing that his command had been surrounded.Each of these deputies who had planned to betray General Chiko had been give an amount of 50,000US $.

Colonel Ga Byinshi Gakunzi of M23 killed by FARDC missiles in an Ambush .

 Colonel Byinshi [photo below] had defected to M23 around March 3, 2023 and it was in March again that he was killed. Who is this Colonel Byinshi Colonel Byinshi Gakunzi Moïse, who had joined the Zairian army (FAZ) in the Mibunda region of the Itombe territory in South Kivu. Around 1991, he entered the Kagera,  located near  Uganda, Rwanda and Tanzania to join RPA for, according to them, which was meant for the liberation of Rwanda. In the struggle for the liberation of Rwanda, Colonel Byinshi fought, until 1996, he returned to Zaire to fight against President Mobutu Seseko Kukungwendo Wazabanga. After that, he joined the RCD GOMA, serving in Uvira, Baraka and Minembwe.Yesterday,the Wazalendo led an attack on his convoy that killed colonel Gakunzi and all his body guards.

General Chico Tshitambwe did not order the withdraw of soldiers from Rwindi!!

  The order to evacuate Rwindi was not given by General Chico, but rather by his deputies based in Rwindi in complicity with the head of the locality of Rwindi who would have played a key role in this game. According to the revelations from sources on thebfronline, at least 6 people have already been arrested and transferred to Kinshasa, among them the head of the locality of Rwindi as well as the general's two deputies.The error in our army: We change the Operations Commanders for inefficiency, but we leave the same deputies. These deputies have been there for years, they do tricks, betray, give bad orders, etc. but in the end, it is No. 1 who bears responsibility for the failure. Today General Chico is singled out following the failure in his area of command, but we forget that he works with the same deputies who brought down several cities, they became familiar with their troops, etc. Let's just take the example of the one who was based in Rwindi. This commander had brought down the city of Katsiru while he received all possible alerts. He had a lot of elements and ammunition in Rwindi, but he told the elements based in Katsiru to manage the war. Finally in one day of fighting, Katsiru had fallen. This same Commander, instead of changing him, is led but we change the overall commander. Do you see the error?? And there are many officers who order withdrawals without consulting their superiors, or who give false information to their superiors, etc. the General Staff must also see the case of these officers there. 

Vitchumbi falls in hands of M23 as congolese civilians continue demanding explanations as to why FARDC is withdrawing giving a free entry for the rebels to capture more areas.

  Vitshumbi, located approximately 130 kilometers north of the city of Goma, on the west coast of the Lake Edward would have come under the control of the M23 rebels and the Rwandan army this Monday March 11 according to certain local sources on site. The same sources added that the DRC army gave up without fighting, letting the rebels enter peacefully. In Masisi, it is reported that the M23 rebels withdrew from the locality of Kalembe last Sunday night, thus strengthening their positions in Kashuga. Note that some 24,000 people live in Vitshumbi and since November and the massive outbreak of the rebellion, this fishing town was cut off from the provincial capital, Goma, on which its survival depended. Goma will also have a fish deficiency, the bulk of which came from vitchumbi. After the capture of the town of Vitchumbi on Monday March 11, the M23 rebels and their allies held a meeting with the local population. 

The latter wanted to communicate their orientations and the course of action to be followed by the inhabitants whom they say they are “liberating”. Among the measures communicated by the rebels, is the opening of traffic on Kiwanja Vitchumbi for traders who will be escorted by their elements. The rebels say they are calling on the various leaders of this town, who fled shortly before their arrival, to return without delay for fear of being replaced by others of their persuasion. The same is being sent as a message to residents who have fled, who the rebels say risk losing their homes if they do not return. Note that Vitchumbi fell without shots being fired, the local residents say they saw the elements of the loyalist army break out the day before with their equipment. 

The local population is not happy with the FARDC's tactic.Many civil society organisations have angrily put up publications denouncing the act of folding their hands in the face of The advancing rebels.“The Forces Vives du Nord-Kivu civil society remains astounded by the fact that the FARDC continues to cling to a shameless defensive military tactic in the face of the dazzling advances of the M23-RDF terrorists in the Territory of Masisi and Rutshuru for more than two years since the resurgence of this sad rebellion”

The civilians are not happy with some commanders,they say that they only go to sleep in,with all sorts of luxury without thinking about war.They continue to say that FARDC should totally trust Wazalendo instead of trusting the rotten commanders who are the main source of FARDC's misfortunes.The civilians were furious on the way one commander in names of Biagolo spends his time in lavish style in hotels and they continue to say that Wazalendo had warned the Gorvenment about the same general.The civilians say"And now, while the fronts are raging,Brigadier General BIAGOLO is filming pornographic films and sex tapes in hotels in Goma with Rwandan girls. More serious, carried away by love, he gives his outfits to the girl and the girl wears the General's outfit with rank peeps and publishes on TikTok. Tiktok.The wazalendo are prophets in their home! The fardc command is rotten and is at the root of all the difficulties.The Gorvenment must leave the task to the wazalendo."

M23 nearly holding the whole of Rutshuru as wazalendo and some civilians still claim that UPDF was on frontline with M23 !

 In grouping of Binza , the FARDC stil hold their positions from Kisharu 30km from the city of Kiwanja center to Ishasha on the Congolese-Uganda border.

Many Congolese and the Wazalendo say that, General chiko owes the explanations to the Congolese population. On his order, the FARDC withdrew to Rwindi which was a strategic base to reinforce BINZA and KANYABAYONGA, MUTANDA, KIHONDO etc.... Through this withdrawal, the m23 soldiers managed to recover the localities of KITUNDA, KASHUGA and IBUNGA, thus getting closer to KALEMBE where until late the clashes between the WAZALENDO and the M23-RDF coalition were around Muhongozi and its surroundings came back under military control m23. The M23 Soldiers who had not yet succeeded in controlling 3/4 of the territory of RUTCHURU, in just 4 days they have just crossed 2 Groups including MUTANDA AND KIHONDO, and completely taken the BUKOMBO Group. Almost the entire territory of Rutchuru has just come under the control of the Rwandan Aggressors except 2 Groups including KANYABAYONGA in the Bwito chiefdom and BINZA in the BWISHA chiefdom. These two Groups are also vulnerable with the withdrawal of the FARDC to Rwindi which was a strategic base to reinforce BINZA, KANYABAYONGA, MUTANDA and KIHONDO.... NB: General chiko who is responsible for operations on the RWINDI axis can explain how these Rwanda aggressors managed to recover these 2 Groups in 4 days and why he asked the FARDC to make the withdrawal to Rwindi. As the FARDC has just demonstrated this weakness, we are asking for their heavy weapons and ammunition to drive out these Rwandan aggressors. General Chico's fault is only that he himself was not present in Rwindi yesterday. He was concentrated in Kirumba. I'm not sure it was him who gave the order to leave Rwindi without a fight. I surely believe that the commander of Rwindi had either misinformed him or made the decision without asking him first. Those who are with us know very well that we denounced the behavior of the command of Rwindi here during the capture of Katsiru by the enemy. He was asked to reinforce the position of Katsiru because the enemy was preparing attacks on this city, but his response was: “FEED WITH WHAT YOU HAVE” (Testimony of an element at the Katsiru front that day) . Consequences, Katsiru had fallen while Rwindi was overmilitarized. So I believe that General Chico should not have had too much confidence in these people. Anyway, he's alone, he can't be everywhere at the same time. It is up to the competent authorities to change the deputy/commanders of the bases suspected of treason. We can change the heads of operations, but as long as the deputy heads always remain the same, then the results will obviously always be the same too. 

Since yesterday, Major General Chico Tshitambwe has been reorganizing the troops of the Congolese army on several axes, particularly around Kikuku to prevent the progress of the rebels and to respond.Major General CHIKO, commander of Rwindi axis operations, was in Kanyabayonga and will set up his headquarters in Lubero.

 Since Friday March 8,there has been a rumour circulating within the population that 3 jeeps of the Ugandan military and a white armored truck, entered RUTCHURU center in the position of the M23 at PENA.This rumour still held that Ugandan soldiers who had attacked the city of NYANZALE, returned to RUTCHURU center with their heavy weapon which was on the front line in NYANZALE. This rumour still went on further by indicating that the Weapon is one of several others in the Ugandan army's allocation to reinforce the Rwandan military (M23), would be among those that Uganda had sent across the Congo as part of the EAC mission.However,some people still look a this as a way the Wazalendo and other partners are trying to spoil the Uganda -DRC relations and neither the Congolese military intelligence or domestic intelligence has said anything on the claim that UPDF is supporting M23.President Museveni categorically has always been saying that this war is an internal conflict and thus UPDF cannot be involved.But the maimai,the Wazalendo see Museveni as being hypocritical in his utterances.

The DRC miltary intelligence reports:Rutshuru politicians arrested for conniving with m23

The 5 alleged M23 accomplices arrested in Goma were presented to the press in Kinshasa. Among them, 2 elected provincial deputies from North Kivu: Honorable Alain Aliongera, member of the FCC of the former Congolese president Joseph Kabila and Honorable Hope Sabini Kibuya, member of Ensemble pour la République of the opponent Katumbi. There is also Germain Ngoa, Ngera Alio and Gabriel Imani.     .Among the  presented to the press in Kinshasa is the honorary deputy HOPE SABINI KUBUYA, then elected deputy for the electoral constituency of Rutshuru. According to General Sylvain EKENGE BOMUSA EFOMI spokesperson for the FARDC, this former elected official admitted to having worked with the M23 as the main recruiter and mobilizer of young people in Goma and Rutshuru under a promise. He added that he had the promise of becoming vice-governor of the province of North Kivu, once the city of Goma was taken by rebel fighters. To the list of two deputies presented is also added Mr. Cyrille MUHONGYA MAFUKULO, then advisor in a ministry in the province of North Kivu. The presentations will continue, indicates the army.