Al-Shabaab attacks Somali town to disrupt election

Capt. Mohamed Haji, a Somali police officer told Keydmedia English that the extremists fired a salvo of mortars at an Ethiopian military base and a Southwest state police station in the town.

News Keydmedia Online
30 November 2021

BAIDOA, Somalia – Al-Shabaab has launched an overnight attack on Baidoa, a key Somali town amid an ongoing perimammary election in the Horn of Africa country.

Capt. Mohamed Haji, a Somali police officer told Keydmedia English that the extremists fired a salvo of mortars at an Ethiopian military base and a Southwest state police station in the town.

Local residents reported hearing as many as five explosions during the mortar attack and could not verify the exact number of the casualties. The Ethiopian troops have responded with artillery shelling.

The militants attempted to storm the Ethiopian army base following the bombardment but encountered resistance. Southwest state officials confirmed that several civilians were wounded in the skirmish.

The security of the city has been extremely beefed up after the Al-Shabaab attack as the region is electing its federal lawmakers in upcoming Somalia’s 11th national assembly.

KEYDMEDIA English