Mohammed Dhaysane
Saturday January 21, 2023
More than 40 al-Shabaab terrorists have been killed in an operation in the Middle Shabelle region, the Somali military said on Thursday.
The operation was launched in response to Tuesday’s deadly attack on a military base in Hawadley, some 60 kilometers (37 miles) north of the capital Mogadishu.
At least 10 soldiers, including a senior commander, were killed in that early morning assault, which began with a suicide car bombing and ended after heavy gun battles.
The operation was carried out with intelligence support from Somali spy agency NISA and the country’s international partners, Abdiaziz Ahmed, a security official, told Anadolu.
“We focused on farmlands and areas on the outskirts of Hawadley,” he said, adding that heavy weaponry, including an anti-aircraft twin-barreled autocannon, was also destroyed.
The Somali army, backed by local militias, has been engaged in a sweeping offensive against al-Shabaab since last year, when President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud declared “all-out war” on the terrorist group.
Somalia has been plagued by insecurity for years, with al-Shabaab and Daesh/ISIS being among the main threats.
The UN has warned of growing instability in the country, issuing periodic reports last year that detailed attacks by al-Shabaab and pro-Daesh/ISIS terror groups.
There were at least 1,518 civilian casualties – 651 killed and 867 injured – in terror attacks in Somalia in 2018, followed by 1,459 – 591 killed and 868 injured – in 2019, according to UN estimates.