2021 Dar es Salaam shooting

Dar es Salaam shooting

Location| Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
Date| 25 August 2021

Attack type

| Spree shooting
Weapons| Rifle
Deaths| 5 (including the perpetrator)
Injured| 9
Perpetrator| Hamza Mohamed
Motive| Islamic extremism

On 25 August 2021, a gunman opened fire at two locations in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.[1] He first killed two police officers at an intersection and stole their rifles. He walked several hundred metres to the French embassy, where he shot and killed another officer and a security guard.[1] The gunman also injured six other people before being shot dead by police.[1] The attack occurred during the day on Ali Hassan Mwinyi Road, one of Dar es Salaam's main avenues in the diplomatic quarter.[2][3][4][5]

## Background to the massacre

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On 2 September 2021, authorities confirmed that the attacker, identified as Hamza Mohamed, was motivated by Islamic extremism.[6] Before the shooting, he had visited social media pages related to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.[7] Simon Sirro, the chief police inspector leading the investigation, said the attack was likelly motivated by the Tanzanian government's effort to combat Islamic terrorists in Mozambique.[8] Such attacks were relatively rare in Tanzania, although there have been Islamist attacks in the past, including the killings of police officers and civil servants in the eastern district of Kibiti in 2016 and 2017.

## Commemoration

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In Dar es Salaam, on the eve of the attack, dozens of Tanzanian police officers, politicians and citizens gathered to pay tribute to the victims.[2]

## References

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1. ^ a b c Tanzania: Gunman kills 4 near French embassy
2. ^ a b "En Tanzanie, l'attaque de Dar es-Salaam a été menée par un « terroriste » islamiste". Le Monde.fr (in French). 2021-09-03. Retrieved 2022-03-04.
3. ^ Malanga, Alex; Mirondo, Rosemary; Lamtey, Gadiosa; Maricha, Julius; Mbaga, Catherine; Mwaisenya, Mary (2021-07-27). "Hamza the gunman unmasked". The Citizen. Archived from the original on 2021-08-27.
4. ^ Muhame, Giles (2021-08-25). "Video: Tanzania French Embassy Attacker a Somali National". ChimpReports. Archived from the original on 2021-08-26.
5. ^ Kombe, Charles (2021-09-02). "Tanzanian Police: Gunman Who Killed 4 Last Week Was 'Terrorist'". Voice of America.
6. ^ "Tanzania says gunman who killed four people last month was a terrorist". Reuters. 2 September 2021.
7. ^ "Tanzania: Gunman who killed four people last month was a terrorist". AfricaNews. 2 September 2021.
8. ^ "Tanzania shooting: Gunman kills four in diplomatic quarter of Dar es Salaam". Sky News. Retrieved 2022-03-04.