1. Detailed Assessment of Al Shabaab's attacks on
Makkah Al-Mukarama and Jazeera Hotels 2013-2014
Ernest Sipes
http://www.trackingterrorism.org/article/detailed-assessment-al-shabaabs-attacks-makkah-al-
mukarama-and-jazeera-hotels-2013-2014
Maka Al-Mukarama Hotel, Mogadishu, Somalia November 8,
2013

2. Summary
Between 08 November 2013 and 01 January 2014, al Shabaab (al-Shebaab al-Muheddin)
attacked both the Maka hotel and the Jazeera hotel located in Mogadishu, Somalia using
vehicles carrying bombs. Video (above): 2014 Aftermath following the Jazeera Hotel,
Mogadishu, Somalia January 1, 2014.
Report Aims and Objectives
This preliminary report was designed to analyze two attacks in Mogadishu, Somalia
that can positively be attributed to Al Shabaab. These two particular attacks were
chosen for study for three reasons.
 First, each bombing contains tactical features and utilizes materials which are
typically used by the group in attacks.
 Secondly, these strikes are close enough to the present in chronological time that
they are still relevant for future attempts to thwart and possibly plan effective
defenses against further Al Shabaab attacks.
 Third, the strikes are well enough documented in terms of news coverage and
existing photographic evidence that with the additional research I conducted while
in Mogadishu over February 5 through 9th, 2014, a clear picture can be presented
in terms of study.
I intend, by examining these two attacks in detail, to seek similarities in methods and
implementation strategies of these two bombings. Study of the group’s decisions may aid
in the process of establishing similarities in the planning of the strikes, discernible
patterns in the implementation of the attacks and insight into what the choice of the
vehicles used may reveal trends in how Al Shabaab selects particular makes and models
used as suicide vehicles.
Westgate Inspiration
After the Al Shabaab terror attack on the Westgate mall in Kenya in October, 2013, the
group demonstrated it has the capacity and the will to strike outside of Somalia. A little
noticed explosion in the heavily Somali populated neighborhood of Riverside in
Minneapolis, Minnesota on January 1st, 2014 occurred on the same day and within hours
of the Jazeera Hotel bombing in Mogadishu. There are no clear links between the two
events, yet there has been concern for some time that Al Shabaab may be planning
Westgate Mall style terror strikes in the continental United States.
For More on Kenya: Implications of the Westgate Mall Incident

3. By examining the following two atypical attacks at the Maka Hotel and Jazeera Hotel in
Mogadishu, a step is taken to establish patterns of planning and execution that may at
some time become valuable if Al Shabaab begins a campaign of terror activities in the
United States.
The appendix contains information gathered while in Somalia in June, 2013 and
February, 2014 that gives insight into the group’s functioning but is not essential to the
analysis of the hotel bombings.
Background
Homeland Security Committee Chairman Michael McCaul (R-Texas). McCaul says he
has "grave concern" that Al Shabaab may be planning to hit in the United States.
"When you have 50 Americans, up to 50 Americans, trained to fight the war in terrorism,
the idea that they could come back to the United States is a real valid concern.”
Adding additional validity to the idea that AL Shabaab has the ability to perform
international attacks, the current president of Somalia Hassan Sheikh Mohamud stated
during an interview in late September that the group has an agenda that extends past the
border of Somali.
Addressing the groups funding sources, president Mohamud said that “Al-Shabab is
working with an international capacity in terms of trading and financial resources. “ In
his interview Mamoud --whose presidential palace was attacked by Al Shabaab in late
February --was emphatic that the group does indeed pose a threat to western nations. “Al-
Shabab is more of an international problem than a Somali problem. It can happen here in
the United States as it is now happening in Nairobi.”

4. UN Compound bomb attack in Mogadishu 19 JUN 13.
Photos: Ernest Sipes

5. Jazeera Hotel, Mogadishu, Somalia January 1, 2014
Case Name: Jazeera Hotel Bombing
Date: 01 January 2014
Prepared By: Ernest Sipes, U.S. Passport Number 427631834
Incident Type: Multiple Vehicle Suicide Bombings; Gunfight
Address of Occurrence: Jazeera Hotel, Mogadishu, Somalia
Weapons/Objects Used
Three unidentified explosive devices (problematic- question of type requires more
research in Mogadishu); 1st blast- One 1996-2013 Toyota hi Lux pickup (ID based on
differential case design and wheels pictured in wreckage from bomb site); 2nd blast- One
late model passenger car, unable to identify make/model from photographs; 3rd blast-
One late model pickup truck, unable to identify make/model; light to possibly squad level
automatic weapons
IncidentDescription
SuicideMission
On December 29th, 2013, the Al Shabaab sponsored website Somalimidnimo
published an audio message warning that “Muslims should stay away from the
places where the infidels reside.” On January 1st, 2014 at approximately 7:45PM a
Toyota pickup drove to the SW entrance to the Jazeera Hotel located on the
Wardada Garoonka Diyaaradaha road and detonated an explosive device which
destroyed the truck and several nearby vehicles. One source states that this
vehicle struck a car which belonged to the former security chief Khalif Farah Ereg
before exploding. The occupant of the truck was killed in the blast. Four
government security officers and two hotel security officers were also killed in the
initial explosion.
TargetingFirstResponders
Several minutes later a passenger car came on scene and detonated, killing four
additional people. Emergency personal were just coming on scene and security
personal helping those injured in the first bombing were wounded in the second
blast. After the second blast, one witness reported two armed assailants described
as “suicide bombers” attempted to storm the hotel by entering the gate that had
been destroyed in the blast. Another witness stated that five people were killed in
the resulting gun battle during the attempted storming of the hotel.
At approximately 8:50PM police stopped a truck approximately 200 feet south on
the Wardada Garoonka Diyaaradaha road subsequent to the earlier bombing.
While police were searching the truck, the driver exploded a device which killed
the driver and an undisclosed number of police nearby. Photographic evidence
confirms a late model pickup was used in the bombing.

6. Final results put the total number of people killed in the Jazeera Hotel attack at 11
and the number of wounded at over 17.
Jazeera Hotel Attack: 01 JAN 14
Sipes
7:50PM2nd
car bomb
7:45 PM
1st truck
bomb
Jazeera Hotel
8:50PM3rd
truck bomb

7. Jazeera Hotel 1st Attack Site as Pictured 06 FEB 14.
Jazeera Hotel 1st Attack Site as Pictured 01 JAN 2014.
Sipes

8. Identification of Truck Usedin 1st Blast at the Jazeera Hotel Bombing
Jazeera Hotel 1st Bomb Site as Pictured 01 JAN 14
Positive identification of 1st vehicle as a Toyota HiLux is based on two features found in
news agency pictures from initial blast site of residue from the vehicle used in blast:
1. Design of rear differential matches that of Toyota Hi Lux 1996- present.
2. Style of OEM steel wheel matches that of Toyota Hi Lux 1996- present.
Note rear
differential design
and wheel style

9. Enlarged, inverted and rotated picture of differential and wheel from 1st bomb site. The
following photos are a method of vehicle identification. After some study it was
determined that the U.S. marketed T100 and the Mid East and African marketed Hilux
4X4 share the same differential. Note differential on right below.
Toyota manufacturers four differential types in pickups, 4Runners and in the HiLux : The
8" standard, the 7.5", the 8" V6/Turbo, and a new one in the Tacoma and third-generation
(96+) 4Runners. ‘Note- Starting in about 1996, the V6 pickups (including the Hi Lux in
the mid-east and Africa) started using a differential casting that looks nearly the same as
the T100/Tundra casting from the outside. However, it doesn't have the trussed bearing
cap on the inside, and the outside uses the smaller 8mm mounting studs.’
Sipes
Sipes
T100/Hilux Mideast and Africa
4 Cyl
V6/ Turbo

10. Differential from Hi Lux pictured in Ibra, Oman. Note shape of axle housing.
Toyota Hi Lux pictured in Ibra, Oman. Compare vehicle six wheel cutouts and the
shape of the wheel holes with the residue from Jazeera hotel 1st blast site.
END OF WRITINGSAMPLE
END OF WRITINGSAMPLE
Sipes
Sipes