Islamist terrorist group steps up attacks in Somalia
Islamist terrorist group steps up attacks in Somalia
The Islamist terrorist group al-Shabab has stepped up its attacks in central Somalia and captured new areas in Hiiran province.
A military spokesman said on Monday that government troops and local clan militias have been attempting to repel the Islamists’ offensive since the weekend.
Nevertheless, al-Shabab fighters have reportedly succeeded in capturing a village of strategic importance for transport and logistics, situated some 60 kilometres from Hiran’s provincial capital, Beledweyne.
Military sources say at least 54 Islamists and nine soldiers have been killed since Saturday. Al-Shabab, on the other hand, claimed on the militia’s radio station that more than 100 soldiers had been killed, without mentioning its own casualties. The figures provided by both sides cannot be independently verified.
Al-Shabab is allied with the al-Qaeda terrorist network. The militia has been fighting for an Islamist state for years.
Although it has been driven out of the capital, Mogadishu, recently there have still been repeated attacks there against government officials, journalists and representatives of civil society.
Internal political tensions are also mounting in the country in the Horn of Africa, following President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud’s decision in mid-May to extend his term of office by a further year despite opposition objections.
