Top army commander killed in Somalia clashes

The death of the commander comes days after SNA chief Gen Odowa Yusuf Rage has confirmed that the government forces have killed 100 militants in the latest operations against Al-Shabaab in the region.

News Keydmedia Online
3 June 2021

MOGADISHU, Somalia - A top Somali army commander was killed Thursday in clashes with Al-Shabaab in the eastern Middle Shabelle province, the state media has reported.

The commander of the 6th battalion of the Turkish-trained Gorgor forces major Mohamed Abdiwahid has lost his life in a fierce gunfight that occurred at Jalable village as SNA stepped up an anti-al-Shabaab push.

Abdiwahid underwent training in several countries, including Uganda and Turkey, where he returned from just two months ago. He once served in the presidential guards before being moved to the battlefields recently.

The death of the commander comes days after SNA chief Gen Odowa Yusuf Rage has confirmed that the government forces have killed 100 militants in the latest operations against Al-Shabaab in the region.

Rage, the country’s youngest army chief who is leading the operation survived a bomb attack that targeted a convoy he was traveling in the vicinity of War-Isse near Jowhar town, 90Km north of Mogadishu.

Al-Shabaab has been dislodged from key areas in the south and central regions following a joint offensive by Somali and AU troops in the past 10 years but the terror group still controls large swathes of territory.

KEYDMEDIA English