Somali National News Agency
So
Ar
Search
  • Home
  • Local News
    Local NewsShow More
    Joint Somalia Operation Decimates Al-Shabaab Leadership Hub and Arms Cache in Aden Yabaal
    June 27, 2025
    Somali Police Apprehend 17 Individuals, Including Security Officers, Over Security Violations During Celebrations
    June 27, 2025
    Somali Minister Meets Algerian Counterpart to Strengthen Strategic Partnership on Labor and Social Affairs
    June 27, 2025
    Somali Disaster Management Agency Boosts Data Collaboration with National Statistics Body
    June 26, 2025
    Somali Minister Meets Turkish President, to Strengthen Strategic Partnership on Ports and Security
    June 26, 2025
  • World News
    World NewsShow More
    Protests intensify in Los Angeles after Trump deploys hundreds of National Guard troops
    June 9, 2025
    31 Palestinians are killed heading to a Gaza aid site, witnesses say. Israel denies responsibility
    June 7, 2025
    Hajj Season 1446 AH: Synergy Between Technology and Humanity in Serving the Guests of Allah
    June 6, 2025
    Machine Gun, AK-47 Rifles Recovered as 4 Al-Shabaab Terrorists are Killed in Garissa
    June 3, 2025
    Israel kills 2 Gaza aid seekers as UN warns of ‘catastrophic hunger’
    May 31, 2025
  • Articles
    ArticlesShow More
    Reviving Somalia’s Tourism and Hospitality Sector: A Path Toward Economic Resilience and Cultural Renaissance
    June 21, 2025
    Somalia’s Strategic Path in a Resurgent China-Africa Partnership
    June 12, 2025
    Remarks on Somalia’s participation in the China-Africa Economic and Trade Expo
    June 13, 2025
    Hajj Season 1446 AH: Synergy Between Technology and Humanity in Serving the Guests of Allah
    June 6, 2025
    Wind power turbines line a mountain range in Ji’an, Jiangxi province, July 9, 2022.
    What China’s climate action means for the planet’s future?
    June 5, 2025
  • Business
    BusinessShow More
    Somalia Unveils the Blueprint for a Modern and Sustainable Mogadishu
    December 21, 2024
    Djibouti Launches $57.4 Million Youth Entrepreneurship Project to Combat Climate Change
    November 25, 2024
    FM meets Minister of Investment of Saudi Arabia
    October 28, 2024
    President Hassan Sheikh Inaugurates New LPG Storage Center in Mogadishu
    May 12, 2024
    Collaboration of ICT transformation for digital Infrastructure
    October 24, 2023
  • Sports
    SportsShow More
    Mogadishu Stadium to Host Star-Studded Match Featuring Somali Legends and International Football Icons
    May 27, 2025
    Arsenal held at Brighton while Man City bounce-back continues
    January 5, 2025
    Galmudug wins the Inter-State Football Tournament
    January 29, 2024
    Somalia set for two int’l friendlies ahead of WC qualifier clashes against Algeria and Uganda
    October 10, 2023
    Chicago woman, 104, skydives from plane, aiming for record as the world’s oldest skydiver
    October 3, 2023
  • Tenders
    TendersShow More
    Quay Renovation Works – Supply and Installation of Fenders and Bollards
    April 11, 2025
Reading: Somali survivor: The resilience of living through serial suicide attacks
Share
Font ResizerAa
Somali National News AgencySomali National News Agency
  • SOMALI
  • ARABIC
Search
  • Home
  • Local News
  • World News
  • Articles
  • Business
  • Sports
  • Tenders
Follow US
©2023 || All rights reserved SONNA
Somali National News Agency > Blog > Articles > Somali survivor: The resilience of living through serial suicide attacks
ArticlesLocal NewsWorld News

Somali survivor: The resilience of living through serial suicide attacks

By Osman
Last updated: January 19, 2022
7 Min Read
Share

Sunday’s suicide bombing in Somalia’s capital targeted a man who had survived four previous attacks. BBC World Service Africa editor Mary Harper considers why Mohamed Moalimu, who is now recovering in hospital, continues to brave a city wracked by violence.

I have a list of essential information stored on my phone. Right near the top, above my passport number and bank account details, is the name Moalimu, the number 16.5 and the words “likes blue patterns and white”.

These are the shirt size and preferred colours of my dear friend Mohamed Ibrahim Moalimu, who used to work as the BBC’s reporter in Somalia.

Whenever I visit Mogadishu I buy shirts for Moalimu.
I love going to Jermyn Street in London, the Mecca for posh gentlemen’s clothes. I sort through the dozens and dozens of colours, patterns and designs, looking for just the right thing.

In fact, I have two such shirts waiting in my suitcase for the next time I go to Somalia.

The problem is, Moalimu might not be there. He is in hospital in Turkey.

He was airlifted there in a little plane. It was not easy to manoeuvre his stretcher up and into the small space.

advertisements

On Sunday, Moalimu was caught up in his fifth suicide attack. This time he was the direct target.
A suicide bomber ran towards his car and detonated the explosives when he reached the place where Moalimu was sitting.

There was little left of the attacker. The car was a mangled wreck.

I do not understand how Moalimu survived. He has a broken leg, chest wounds and other injuries but he is conscious and lucid.
Refuses to leave

If you were to meet Moalimu, probably the first thing you would notice is the terrible scars on his face. He got those in 2016 in his second suicide attack.

He was at his favourite seaside restaurant. Fighters from Islamist militant group al-Shabab stormed in from the beach, besieging the place for hours.
Moalimu survived by lying in his own blood, pretending to be dead.

He told me how the militants kicked people’s bodies to make sure they had died, shooting those who flinched.

It took months of treatment in Somalia, Kenya and the UK to heal him. The main fear was for his eyes.
It is difficult to relate the character of Moalimu to the dangerous world he lives in, and refuses to leave.

He is gentle, softly spoken and calm.

Mogadishu, and many of the people in it, are excitable, loud and nervy. Not surprising given that the city has been at war for more than three decades.

I was in Mogadishu shortly after Moalimu was caught up in his first suicide attack.

It was in June 2013 when al-Shabab smashed their way into a United Nations compound, spending about an hour inside killing as many people as they could.

Moalimu happened to be driving past when the militants struck. The remains of a suicide bomber landed on his car, smashing the windscreen.

In his usual polite, unassuming way, Moalimu showed me his windscreen, which was well-and-truly smashed up. He drew out a gruesome photo of his car in the aftermath of the attack.
He asked if I thought the BBC might pay for his windscreen to be repaired.

After all, he was working at the time. Reporting, as he so often did, on the violence in his hometown.

There is no way the BBC could cover Somalia the way it does without people like Moalimu.

He now works as a government spokesman, but when he was with the BBC, as well as filing his own reports, Moalimu was always ready to tell people like me exactly what was going on.

To this day, whenever I call him, he starts off with a list of exactly what has happened that day – the assassinations, the explosions, the political in-fighting.

He does this even when the purpose of my call is to ask him what kind of shirts I should bring him.
Unsung heroes of journalism

When Moalimu was my BBC colleague, he and one other person were the only ones I called before I went to Somalia.

If Moalimu said: “Don’t come” – I didn’t, even if it seemed to be relatively quiet. If Moalimu said: “Come” – I came, even if the security seemed a bit ropey.

I trusted Moalimu with my life. He was one of the unsung heroes of my profession.

I find it hard to understand why so much journalism gets attached to the name of one glorious, brave reporter, when there are often many others involved.

The producer, the camera-person, the sound-person and, perhaps most important of all, the “local” journalist, sometimes called “the fixer”, who knows pretty much everything and upon whom the team almost entirely depends.

Moalimu was one such person, as are a number of other Somali journalists with whom I work and who also risk their lives every day.
After he left journalism I told Moalimu how disappointed I was when he became the government spokesman.

How could such a fair, honest journalist join “the other side”?

As always, his response was measured.

“I want to make a difference. I couldn’t do that as a journalist. I need to work from inside the system. I want to be an MP and this is my first step towards that.”

After he took on his new job, I had to develop a more formal relationship with him.

His shirts have also become more formal. They are stiff and white as he now needs to wear them with smart suits.

But whenever I walk down Jermyn Street, I will always think of the joy of choosing shirts for him, trying to match colours and patterns with his serene, gentle character.

Share This Article
Facebook Whatsapp Whatsapp Email Copy Link Print

MORE NEWS

Official Reopening of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Archives

CultureEducationLocal News
November 23, 2024

Kenya’s small farmers find respite in avocados amid changing climate

NAIROBI(SONNA) As crop diseases and pests rise in Kenya amid a rapidly changing climate that…

March 11, 2023

Joint Somalia Operation Decimates Al-Shabaab Leadership Hub and Arms Cache in Aden Yabaal

MOGADISHU, Somalia A major joint operation by Somalia's National Intelligence and Security Agency (NISA) and…

June 27, 2025

Nimcaan Hilaac appointed to lead Waberi National Band

Mogadishu (SONNA)-Minister of Information, Culture and Tourism of the Federal Republic of Somalia, H.E. Mohamed…

March 3, 2020

YOU MAY ALSO LIKE

AMISOM hands over newly reconstructed school and health facility in South West State

Baidoa:—In a bid to address the basic needs of the local population, the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) on…

Local News
November 13, 2021

Isse Farah, A Veteran Journalist Passes away in Mogadishu

Mogadishu(SONNA)-Veteran Journalist, Isse Farah Mohamud on Sunday morning passed away here in the capital Mogadishu after certain disease. He died…

Local News
May 7, 2023

Somalia’s Minister of Finance and Turkish Ambassador Discuss Financial Reforms and Development Support

Mogadishu, Somalia – Somalia's Minister of Finance Mr. Bihi Iman Ige, engaged in extensive discussions with the Turkish Ambassador to…

Local News
November 15, 2024

Somali delegation participate in the 12th World Urban Forum in Cairo

Cairo, (SONNA) - The Second Deputy Prime Minister of the Federal Government of Somalia, H.E Absisalan Abdi Ali and a…

Local News
November 4, 2024

Somali National News Agency established in 1964. It is one of the main pillars of the Ministry of Information, Culture, and Tourism.

  • Home
  • Local News
  • World News
  • Articles
  • Business
  • Sports
  • Tenders
  • SNTV
  • RADIO MOGADISHU
  • DALKA JOURNAL
  • TOURISM DEPARTMENT

Follow US: 

  • MoICT
  • VILLA SOMALIA
  • OPM SOMALIA

All rights reserved SONNA

©2023

Welcome Back!

Sign in to your account

Username or Email Address
Password

Lost your password?