Mogadishu (Somalia Today) — Somali security forces entered the Elite Hotel in Mogadishu’s Lido Beach area on Saturday, the hotel’s owner and witnesses said, widening a security operation in the tense Abdiaziz district after days of clashes linked to Somalia’s deepening political crisis.
Witnesses said troops first disarmed the hotel’s guards before moving inside the beachfront property, one of the capital’s best-known hotels.
There was no immediate, detailed government statement on the hotel’s operations.
But Mogadishu police said security forces were conducting an operation to collect illegal weapons allegedly hidden in several locations after what they described as militia attacks in Abdiaziz district.
The police statement did not name Elite Hotel.
The hotel is owned by Abdullahi Mohamed Nur, a former internal security minister who has recently aligned himself with opposition figures critical of President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud.
Nur is also a close relative of former president Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, one of the senior opposition leaders at the centre of the standoff with the government.
The operation came a day after the Ministry of Information said security forces had completed a 48-hour operation aimed at preventing armed groups from creating insecurity in Mogadishu.
The ministry accused militias it said were organised by politicians, including former prime minister Hassan Ali Khaire and Sharif, of entering parts of the capital with heavy weapons and attacking police and civilians.
It said security forces had seized heavy weapons and that judicial and security bodies had opened formal investigations into those involved.
In a separate Facebook post, Defence Minister Ahmed Moallim Fiqi did not name Elite Hotel but appeared to defend the wider operation, accusing unnamed actors of turning commercial properties into armed positions.
“It is easy to take a contract from a foreign government to destroy your country, but it is impossible to be given the chance to implement it,” Fiqi wrote.
He accused some Somalis of turning businesses into militia bases and defensive positions, saying the government would no longer allow what he described as proxies serving foreign interests.
‘Full control’
Nur said heavily armed forces entered the hotel at about 11:30 am.
“Today, 6 June 2026, at approximately 11:30 a.m., heavily armed forces equipped with heavy weaponry, including explosives and demolition equipment, forcibly entered Elite Hotel,” he said in a statement.
He said the forces “took full control of the hotel” and gathered the limited number of security personnel and staff present inside into a separate location.
Nur said the troops told staff they were conducting a search.
But he accused the authorities of using the search as a pretext, alleging that the real objective could include damaging the hotel, removing property from the premises and later claiming that weapons had been found there.
“We have reason to believe that the objective extends beyond a routine inspection,” he said.
Nur said no shots had been fired from the hotel during the armed confrontations that shook Abdiaziz district earlier this week.
“It is widely known that not a single shot was fired from either inside or outside the hotel,” he said.
He accused Mohamud of personally ordering the operation, saying the president bore responsibility for “any damage, destruction, or harm” caused to the business.
He did not provide evidence for the allegation.
There was no immediate response from the presidency to Nur’s claim.
Illegal arms
Mogadishu police framed the wider operation as a security sweep targeting illegal weapons.
“Security forces are conducting an operation to collect illegal weapons carried by militias that attacked Abdiaziz district,” police said, adding that the weapons had been hidden in different locations.
The force urged residents of Abdiaziz and nearby areas to cooperate with security agencies “to ensure the security and stability of the community”.
“No one will be allowed to store or hide illegal weapons in their home,” the statement said.
Police said anyone found storing, hiding or helping move illegal weapons would face “strong measures permitted by law”.
They also urged residents to report suspected weapons caches by calling 991 or 199.
The new operation risks further inflaming tensions in Mogadishu, where opposition leaders have accused the government of using force to suppress dissent.
The government says it is acting against armed groups that threatened public order and attacked state positions.
Political crisis
The latest confrontation follows two days of clashes in Mogadishu involving government troops and armed groups linked to opposition politicians.
The violence began around areas associated with Khaire and later spread to Abdiaziz, where Sharif had been staying.
Both men have accused the government of targeting them and using excessive force. The government has rejected the opposition’s account and blamed armed groups for endangering civilians.
The dispute is rooted in a wider battle over Somalia’s electoral timetable and constitutional changes passed by parliament in March.
Opposition figures say Mohamud’s four-year mandate expired on May 15 and accuse him of trying to extend his stay in office.
The government and its allies say the amended constitution sets a new political timetable and is part of a transition towards direct elections.
The United Nations, the United States, the African Union, and the regional bloc IGAD have urged Somali leaders to show restraint and resolve the dispute through dialogue.
Elite Hotel carries its own history in Mogadishu’s long struggle with violence.
In August 2020, al-Shabaab militants attacked the hotel with a car bomb before storming the building. The hotel was later rebuilt and became a symbol of private investment in a city repeatedly targeted by the Islamist insurgent group.
Saturday’s operation now places the hotel at the centre of a different kind of crisis: a political and security confrontation inside the Somali capital, where distrust between the government and opposition has again spilt onto the streets.
