Just a day after arriving in the Somali capital Mogadishu to visit his family, Abdikadir Sheikh Mohamed Ali of Cape Town was killed in an attack by Al-Shabaab jihadists.
AFP reported that Somali forces took about 30 hours to end the deadly siege of the popular Hayat Hotel, eventually destroying the hotel by pounding it with heavy weapons late on Saturday to eliminate assailants who had holed up in the premises since Friday. Somali officials said at least 13 civilians were killed and dozens hurt when militants from Al-Shabaab unleashed a gun and bomb attack on the hotel.
Ali, popularly known as AK and an Uber driver from Cape Town, was among those killed.
“When I saw his picture and realised my friend is dead, I felt like I could die myself,” his friend MO Akram Dida told TimesLIVE from his home in Kenya.
According to Dida, Ali — a Somali — moved to SA 27 years ago. He had been a businessman, had lost everything and was working as an Uber driver. He was the “leader and peacemaker of the Uber Somalia team” according to Dida. He said Ali had left Cape Town last Wednesday to visit his mother in Mogadishu. He arrived on Thursday and was staying in the Hayat hotel when the attack happened on Friday.
Another friend, Elbirshir Bin Sir-lart, sent condolences to Ali’s family, telling them: “I share the pain with you. It wasn't easy to look for the body of our brother for more than 20 hours.”
Ali’s brother Sayid Warsame said: “He was a brother and a parent to us, and he stood by us when the people were broken and we needed his support.
“(AK) was a beloved friend, loved by people, did good deeds, and would recite the Koran.”
Warsame added Ali was religious and had inspired him to study.
“My university master's degree he inspired me to start while I wasn't even there, and when I graduated he inspired me with another one and I did. Now for two years he's been talking to me about doing a PhD but he wasn't lucky enough to see his advice taken.”
AFP reported that witnesses watching the siege from a nearby rooftop described seeing flames tear through the hotel as it was bombarded by security forces, with heavy explosions and gunfire reported.
Scores of people were trapped when the assault began and though officials said dozens had been rescued, including children, it is not known how many were still inside when the siege ended.
The total number of civilian or security casualties, or how many Al-Shabaab fighters were killed, was not known.
Dida said to his knowledge, Ali was not married and did not have children.
Department of international relations and co-operation spokesperson Nelson Kgwete said he had no information as yet on any South Africans being caught up in the siege.
"I’m informed by my colleagues that we have not received any information yet on any affected SA citizens," he said.
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