Des Moines City Council candidate's brother-in-law killed in Somali truck bombing

Des Moines Register

Monday October 16, 2017
By MacKenzie Elmer

People work to rescue victims on the site of the explosion of a truck bomb in the center of Mogadishu, Somalia.(Photo: Mohamed Abdiwahab, AFP/Getty Images)

Abshir Omar announced Monday afternoon that he was suspending his Des Moines City Council campaign for three days to mourn the loss of his brother-in-law, who was killed in Saturday's truck bombing in Somalia.

Omar, 26, told the Register that his brother-in-law, Ahmed Eyow, died when two bombs exploded outside a Mogadishu hotel, killing more than 300 people. It is the deadliest terrorist attack in history and one of the worst in the world in recent years.

"He was only in the country three hours. He arrived at the airport, got in a taxi and then he was at that crossing," Omar said.

Omar was born in Somalia and fled the country with his mother and three siblings to escape civil war. His father was killed in tribal violence months before he was born.

The body of 50-year-old Eyow was found in the rubble of a hotel in Mogadishu, his brother Bashir Eyow told Minnesota Public Radio.

Omar saw Ahmed Eyow recently in Minneapolis.

"I remember him smiling at me, so proud that a member of his family was running for office," Omar said.

He learned on his drive back to Des Moines on Sunday that Eyow was among the injured in the twin blasts. He doesn't know why his brother-in-law, who married his older sister, had returned to Somalia, he said. Eyow and his wife had three children.

Omar announced on Twitter that he would suspend his campaign for three days, but he still plans to attend a previously scheduled meeting with The Des Moines Register editorial board on Tuesday morning.

That meeting — featuring Ward 3 candidates Michael Kiernan, Josh Mandelbaum and Omar — begins at 10 a.m. and will be streamed live at DesMoinesRegister.com.

The Somali government blames the terrorist attack on the al-Shabab extremist group, which vowed to step up attacks after the U.S. and Somalia’s new president announced new military action against the group earlier this year.

Al-Shabab has not claimed responsibility. Hundreds of residents marched in Mogadishu to protest against the militants.

Ambulance service director Abdulkadir Adam said more people died of their wounds Monday, as the death toll was expected to rise further, the Associated Press reported. Overwhelmed hospitals struggled to assist victims as thousands of people donated blood.

The first bomb destroyed five buildings and set dozens of vehicles ablaze, Reuters reported. Another bomb detonated in the Medina area two hours later.

Eyow fled Somalia in the 1998 and settled in Minnesota. Omar fled Somalia to a refugee camp in Kenya and, after being approved for a refugee visa, settled in Seattle.

"People see this headline and think, this is a tragedy that happened somewhere else in the world. But people who are your neighbor have lost loved ones in these tragedies," Omar said.