Somali military says operation kills 13 terrorists

AU troops assisted the Somali army in the assault on the terrorists and a cordon and search operation was underway to clear the remote areas of any remaining militants.

News Keydmedia Online
18 January 2022

MOGADISHU, Somalia - Somali military officials on Tuesday said 13 terrorists were killed in a gunfight with Al-Shabaab in the Lower Shabelle region bordering Mogadishu.

The commander of the Somali army General Odowa Yusuf Rageh said Danab elite forces, acting on intelligence, raided terrorist hideouts in Mubarak and Darussalam villages.

The terrorist group Al-Shabaab has suffered a high number of casualties in the ensuing “intense exchange of fire with our gallant soldiers in the region,” said Rageh.

AU troops assisted the Somali army in the assault on the terrorists and a cordon and search operation was underway to clear the remote areas of any remaining militants.

The Somali government said Al-Shabaab uses the agriculture-rich Lower Shabelle region to orchestrate terrorist attacks in Mogadishu, where the extremist group was driven out in 2011.

On Sunday, an Al-Shabaab suicide bomber has wounded government spokesman Mohamed Ibrahim Moalimuu in the capital, the second major bombing since the start of 2022.

The military in recent months has minimized offensives, backed by AMISOM, in a bid to secure districts along with the capital, which has long served as Al-Shabaab strongholds.

The previous security operations have forced the Al-Shabaab fighters to flee into rural areas and organize deadly attacks against SNA and AMISOM, according to the military sources.

KEYDMEDIA English