The attack on Tuesday marked the first direct targeting of the president by Al-Shabaab since 2014.

Qatar’s Amir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani called Somalia’s President, Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, to check on his safety after Al-Shabaab targeted his motorcade in Mogadishu last week.

“The Amir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani affirmed that the State of Qatar stands in solidarity with Somalia and rejects all kinds of violence and terrorism that destabilise the security and stability of the brotherly Somali people,” Doha’s state news agency (QNA) reported on Saturday.

The Somali president has also expressed his appreciation for Sheikh Tamim’s “heartfelt and fraternal sentiments toward the government and people of Somalia” during the phone call, according to QNA.

Al Shabaab militants attacked Mohamud’s convoy on March 18 while he was travelling through Mogadishu, and killed at least four people. The attack marked the first direct targeting of the president since 2014.

“Our fighters targeted a convoy of vehicles carrying Hassan Sheikh Mohamud as they were leaving the presidential palace and heading to the airport,” Al-Shabaab said in a statement on Telegram at the time.

The president’s adviser, Zakariye Hussein, had issued a statement on X shortly after the attack, where he confirmed Mohamud’s safety.

Translating to ‘The Youth’ in Arabic, Al-Shabaab first emerged as the extremist youth wing of the now-defunct Union of Islamic Courts in Somalia, which briefly controlled Mogadishu in 2006 before Ethiopian forces drove them out.

The group seeks to overthrow the central government of Somalia and install its own system of governance based on their own strict application of Islamic law. Somalia’s government had launched an offensive against Al-Shabaab following the deadly attacks against civilians in 2022.

At least three million people are internally displaced in Somalia due to conflict, insecurity and climate change, according to the United Nations’ refugee agency (UNHCR). The figure includes more than 30,000 refugees and asylum seekers, mainly from Ethiopia, Yemen, Libya, Sudan among other countries.