This was the deadliest attack Somalia has suffered at the hands of terror organisations in many years. Even though Al shabaab have not yet claimed responsibility for the attack, many fingers are pointing towards the group as it has always been a thorn in the political flesh of the fragile Somali central authority that is mainly based in Mogadishu.
The threat of terrorism in Africa since 9/11 attacks in the USA followed by subsequent wars of regime change in countries like Afghanistan (2001), Iraq ( 2003), Libya (2011) launched by the USA and its Western allies has skyrocketed high. Terrorist groups such as ISIS, Boko Haram, Al Qaeda in the Maghreb and the Sahel, Al shabaab and a plethora of related groups have fully entrenched themselves in Africa. In actual fact in the month of October alone security analyst Mariene Maloy states that there have been more than eighty five terror attacks worldwide with 17 of them carried out in Africa resulting in the death of more than 600 people. The Mo Ibrahim Foundation Research Report (2017) gives some shocking findings that since 2007, terrorism in Africa has increased by a whopping 1000%.
