Death of 3 Emirati Armed Forces Members Due to Gunfire in Mogadishu

The UAE Ministry of Defense announced the death of 3 members of the Emirati armed forces, a Bahraini Defense Force officer, and the injury of 2 others due to a "terrorist act" in Somalia. A military source and staff at a hospital reported to Reuters that "five people, including Somali military officials and an Emirati soldier, were killed on Saturday after a soldier opened fire inside a military base in the capital, Mogadishu". Officer Ahmed, who only mentioned his first name, stated that the assailant, a newly trained Somali soldier, was shot dead at the Emirati-run Gordon military base. He added: "The soldier opened fire on the Emirati trainers and Somali military officials when they began to pray. Four Emirati officers were injured while four Somali soldiers were killed." He went on to say: "We know that the soldier defected from Al-Shabaab before being recruited from Somalia and the UAE." Two nursing staff and a doctor at Erdogan Hospital in Mogadishu, who requested anonymity, told Reuters that a senior Emirati officer was killed while four others were seriously injured. They added that around 10 Somali soldiers were also transferred to the hospital with injuries. Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud expressed his condolences to the UAE in a statement published by the Somali National News Agency following the incident.