Dutch-Somali masterminded Mogadishu beach bombing; 19 killed

A Somali man with a Dutch passport is the mastermind behind the terrorist attack at a popular beach in the Somali capital of Mogadishu on Thursday. The man, Ismail Muse Ahmed Guled was arrested at the Mogadishu airport, according to freelance war reporter Harald Doornbos, Omroep Brabant reports. At least 19 people were killed in about 7 hours of attacks. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs could not confirm the arrest to the broadcaster. Guled is also believed to have been involved in an attack on the Central Hotel in the same city last year, as well as in an attack in Dijbouti in 2014 in which six Dutch soldiers were injured. Thursday's attack involved a total of eight attackers. Six were shot, one committed suicide and one was arrested. That is believed to be Guled. The attack was claimed by terrorist group al-Shabaab. It started with a car bomb at a restaurant around sunset, followed by a second explosion and then hours of random gunfire. AD reports that Guled arrived in the Netherlands in 1992. He lived in Den Helder and Tilburg. He married a Somali-Dutch girl and joined Al-Qaeda. According to Doornbos, his wife blew herself up in Somali last year.