The head of the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Sunday that one of its employees was among those killed in an attack last week on a popular beachside hotel in Somalias capital by members of the al-Shabaab terrorist group.

The siege on June 9 left six people dead and another 10 wounded, said police.

Im heartbroken that we have lost a @WHO staff member in the recent attack in #Mogadishu, #Somalia. My heartfelt condolences to their families and to everyone who lost a loved one, the UN agencys director-general, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said on Twitter.

He said the WHO condemns any attacks on civilians and humanitarian workers.

The six people killed in the attack on the Pearl Beach Hotel and Restaurant in Mogadishu included members of the Somali security forces and civilians, according to a Somali police statement issued after security forces ended the hours-long siege.

The Al-Qaeda-affiliated al-Shabaab terrorist group claimed responsibility.

According to a recent report by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, humanitarian access in Somalia posed significant challenges in the first quarter of 2023.

It said from January to March, humanitarian partners reported a total of 112 access incidents across the country, and at least 12 of these incidents, or 11%, involved violence against humanitarian workers.

Two humanitarian workers died during the period while carrying out their duties in Somalia, according to the UN.

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Somali security forces neutralized Islamist rebels who had attacked a hotel in the countrys capital city of Mogadishu, the Somali National News Agency (SONNA) reported on Saturday.

It added that security forces had rescued many civilians from inside the hotel and shot and killed those responsible.

The Al Qaeda-linked al-Shabab group claimed responsibility for Fridays attack on the affluent Pearl Beach Hotel at Lido Beach.

Abdikadir Abdirahman, the director of Aamin Ambulance Services, said that they had threated seven injured people.

Somali police said that 6 people were killed in the attack, including 3 members of security forces. 10 people were injured in the attack, according to the police statement.

What do we know about the hotel attack?

Witnesses said they heard gunfire and explosions at the hotel on Lido Beach. Two suicide bombers blew themselves up at the entrance of the hotel, the DPA news agency reported, citing police officer Mohamed Dahir. Gunmen followed, storming the building.

Other hotel guests were also taken hostage, security official Hassan Ali told DPA.

The siege of the hotel continued into the early hours of Saturday. The official Somali news agency posted on Twitter photos purportedly showing security personnel extracting civilians.

Explosion in the south kills score of children

Elsewhere in Somalia on Friday, a mortar shell exploded near a town in the Lower Shabelle region, killing some 27 individuals, mostly children.

The children were playing with an intact mortar shell which then exploded. Over 50 others were injured.

The unexploded shell was used by Somalias warring factions, residents said.

We request the government and aid agencies to clear mines and shells from the area, Abdi Ahmed, deputy district commissioner of Qoryoley, told reporters.

Al-Shabab has been waging a jih...

Somalia, the African Union Transition Mission in Somalia (ATMIS) and the United Nations on Monday launched a joint campaign to protect the environment and reduce the effects of climate change.

The campaign, which was launched to mark World Environment Day, aims to boost biodiversity and climate resilience and help combat repeat cycles of devastating droughts in the country.

Mohammed El-Amine Souef, special representative of the Chairperson of the AU Commission for Somalia and head of ATMIS, said in a joint statement issued in Mogadishu, the capital of Somalia, that the AU mission will plant about 30,000 trees to support Somalia by making it green by December 2024.

The campaign, which is in solidarity with President Hassan Sheikh Mohameds Regreening Somalia Initiative launched in October 2022, will see the trees planted around some 58 military bases by the time of the proposed exit of AU forces at the end of 2024.

Head of the UN Support Office in Somalia (UNSOS) and Assistant Secretary-General Aisa Kacyira lauded deliberate efforts taken by the UN to curb plastic pollution in a bid to restore Somalias environment.

Kacyira said the UN in Somalia continues to minimize its plastic waste by prohibiting the use of plastic bags, reducing the use of plastic water bottles by providing water dispensers in offices and maintaining drinking water points within camps, providing waste bins to allow for the separation and recycling of trash and regularly organizing beach cleanups.

Somalias Minister for Environment and Climate Change Khadija Mohamed hailed the collaborative efforts by ATMIS and the UN in supporting the governments initiatives to protect the diverse ecosystem.

Mohamed said Somalia has a great asset as it has been blessed with beautiful land, ocean, livestock and agriculture. But unfortunately, our ecosystem has been adversely affected by years of conflict.

We need to stand together and act to tame pollution and fight plastics, she added.

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