Villa Somalia faces blowback following deadly bombing at a secure Mogadishu military camp

A deadly suicide bombing this past Monday at the Jalle Siyaad Military Academy in the Somali capital, Mogadishu, has morphed into a scandal of epic proportions as the Somali government engaged in a cover up gone wrong.

Around 8:15 am local time, a lone suicide bomber detonated an explosives vest in a packed military academy were troops from the 14th October Brigade of Merca, Lower Shabelle, were to take part a round of training.

Following the explosion, dozens of government troops were reportedly killed with scores more wounded. However, the most mysterious part was not necessarily how a suicide bomber could access such a secure building or that fact that all the victims were from a single clan, but the events that transpired afterwards.

Despite the magnitude of the attack, the Somali government went to extreme lengths to censor coverage on the attack by “allegedly” bribing local media outlets in Somalia and even going as far as to order state run media outlets to not cover the incident.

An employee at the Ministry of Information for the Federal government informed Daljir Media that the ministry ordered all state media outlets under their control, which includes Somali National Television (SNTV), the Somali National News Agency (SONNA), Radio Muqdisho and Dalka Newspaper to cease covering the incident.

“The heads at the Ministry (of Information) told us to refrain from covering the attack in our daily programs. We had no choice but to oblige by there directive,” said a staff member at the Ministry of Information that spoke with Daljir Media on condition of anonymity since he wasn’t cleared to speak to the media.

However, the aim to censor the attack has backfired on the Federal government as MP’s and different segments of society, including political stakeholders have lambasted the government for their response to the attack and called for an independent investigation.

It remains to be seen how the government will respond to the growing public backlash and more importantly, how they’ll try come clean on exactly what happened, as Somalis across the globe, including the families of the victims, wait for answers.

But one high ranking government official was highly concerned in what many are calling “a massacre at Jaalle Siyaad Military Academy.” Speaker of the People’s Assembly Adan Madobe wants to know who facilitated for a suicide bomber to enter a highly secure military installation and target a specific SNA brigade from Merca, and why that specific brigade was transferred in the first place and then targeted?

Since the deadly suicide bomber targeted the 14th October Brigade from Merca, the state media has put the lid on any information related to the massacre of the brigade and its casualties.

Previously the government unsuccessfully tried to transfer the whole brigade of which 95% are of the ‘BiyoMaal’ clan to other locations. Then the government once again unsuccessfully tried to turn them into a ‘Macawisley’ style militia to fight al-Shabaab, but the Brigade perceived that as an effort to slowly dismantle them, and asked for additional resources to take the fight to al-Shabaab; however, the government denied them the needed resources.

With all prior government efforts to dismantle the brigade failing, Biyomaal clan leaders are now pointing fingers at the government, and with the exception of the Speaker, so far there has been no official government response either to the massacre or the accusations against the government.

More on this and interviews with clan leaders and military officers, stay tuned to Daljir Media.

Daljir Service Desk