On 18 March 2014, a car loaded with explosives detonated outside the Hotel Amalo in Buloburde, Somalia, which was used by African Union and Somali troops who had captured the town from Al-Shabaab a week earlier.
[3] The town of Buloburde had been controlled by Al-Shabaab for five years, until being captured by African Union and Somali forces around a week prior to the attack.
[1] After the car bombing at the hotel, the town was stormed by Al-Shabaab-fighters, attacking high-ranking mainly Djiboutian and Somali officers.
[3] The suicide bomber was identified as 60-year-old Burhan Ahmed Abdule, who had lived in Halden, Norway since 2005 as a respected family man and immigrant role model, as well as Labour Party-supporter who was once photographed as part of an immigrant delegation who met Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg in the Norwegian parliament.
[5][6][7][8] In September 2014, the Norwegian Police Security Service (PST) concluded that Abdule took part in the attack, making him the first known suicide bomber with ties to Norway (he has later been followed by others).