Heavy fighting reported between Liyu Police and Al Shabaab

Heavy fighting between Liyu police forces and al Shabaab militants was reported in the Aato district in Somalia’s Bakool in the early hours on Friday.

News Keydmedia Online
29 July 2022

In Somalia's Bakool region, heavy fighting between Liyu police forces and al Shabaab militants has been reported in the Aato district after the militant group launched an early-morning attack on Friday using mortar shells.

Residents claimed that the conflict had disrupted all commercial, transportation, and people-movement operations, and that the neighbourhood is still tense as a result.

Unknown are the number of deaths brought on by the conflict.

About 500 terrorists, including many who originally came from Ethiopia’s Somali and Oromia regions, entered Ethiopia last Wednesday, multiple security and former Al-Shabaab operatives told VOA Somali’s “The Investigative Dossier” program. The incursion is the militant group’s biggest-ever operation inside Ethiopia.

Ethiopia and Somalia share a long border that is difficult for both countries to protect due to the conflict and Al-Shabaab threat. The issue of the security Buffer zone that Mustafe has announced needs to be discussed with Somalia, as Al-Shabaab is the enemy of both countries.

Ethiopia has more than 4,000 troops in Somalia that are currently operating under the African Union mission and other non-ATMIS soldiers in the country who are stationed in different regions.

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