MOGADISHU: Al-Shabab fighters attacked a remote Somali army base northwest of the capital Mogadishu on Tuesday, killing several government soldiers, according to officials and militants.
The militant group, which has launched several attacks there in the last few years, said it had seized control of the entire town of Goofgaduud. “We have captured Goofgaduud. We killed 16 soldiers in the fighting,” said Sheikh Abdiasis Abu Musab, Al-Shabab’s military operation spokesman.
Government and military officials were not immediately able to confirm the seizure of Goofgaduud, which lies about 250 km northwest of Mogadishu.
“Al-Shabab attacked our base in Goofgaduud in the morning and ambushed other forces that were sent for reinforcement,” said Mohamed Aden, a military official in the region. “We lost at least seven soldiers and one military truck was burnt,” he told Reuters.
Al-Shabab’s casualty figures and those announced by officials often differ.
The group, which once ruled much of Somalia, has been fighting for years to impose its strict interpretation of Islam on Somalia.
African Union and Somali troops have driven it from urban strongholds and ports but they have often struggled to defend smaller, more remote areas from attacks.
Since losing large swathes of territory to the AU peacekeepers supporting the UN-backed government, the insurgents have frequently launched raids and deadly attacks in Mogadishu and other regions controlled by the federal government.
On Monday, at least eight people were killed after a suicide bomber rammed a car laden with explosives into a cafe in central Mogadishu.
Somalia has been mired in conflict since 1991, when clan-based warlords overthrew Siad Barre and then turned on each other.
Al-Shabab militants attack Somali army base, killing several soldiers
Al-Shabab militants attack Somali army base, killing several soldiers
Nigeria mosque bombing kills at least seven
- The bomb went off inside a crowded mosque in the city’s Gamboru market during early evening prayers
- Maiduguri is the capital of Borno state, home to a years-long insurgency by Boko Haram jihadis
MAIDUGURI, Nigeria: An explosion ripped through a mosque in the northeastern Nigerian city of Maiduguri and killed at least seven worshippers Wednesday, witnesses and security sources told AFP.
No armed groups immediately claimed responsibility for what anti-jihadist militia leader Babakura Kolo said was a suspected bombing.
Maiduguri is the capital of Borno state, home to a years-long insurgency by jihadist groups Boko Haram and an offshoot, Islamic State West Africa Province, though the city itself has not seen a major attack in years.
The bomb went off inside a crowded mosque in the city’s Gamboru market, as Muslim faithful gathered for evening prayers around 6 p.m. (1700 GMT), according to witnesses.
One of the leaders of the mosque, Malam Abuna Yusuf, put the toll at eight dead, though officials have not yet released a casualty count.
“We can confirm there has been an explosion,” police spokesman Nahum Daso told AFP, adding that an explosive ordnance disposal team was already on-site.
Kolo said that seven were killed.
He said it was suspected that the bomb was placed inside the mosque and exploded midway through prayers, while some witnesses described a suicide bombing.
It was not immediately clear how many people were injured, though witness Isa Musa Yusha’u told AFP: “I saw many victims being taken away for medical treatment.”
Videos taken in the aftermath and seen by AFP showed a person covered in blood writhing on the ground, and what appeared to be bodies covered by a sheet.
A security alert sent by an international NGO to its staff in Maiduguri, seen by AFP, advised its workers to stay away from the Gamboru market area.
Deadly insurgency
Nigeria has been battling a jihadist insurgency since 2009 in a conflict that has killed at least 40,000 and displaced around two million from their homes in the northeast, according to the UN.
Though the violence has waned since its peak a decade ago, it has spilt into neighboring Niger, Chad and Cameroon.
And concerns are growing about a resurgence of violence in parts of the northeast, where insurgent groups remain capable of mounting deadly attacks despite years of sustained military operations.
Maiduguri itself — once the scene of nightly gunbattles and bombings — has been calm in recent years, with the last major attack recorded in 2021.
But reminders of the conflict are never far off in the state capital, where major military operations are headquartered.
Military pick-ups lumber through town daily, their beds filled with soldiers whose helmets shield them from the hot afternoon sun.
Evening checkpoints are still in effect, even as markets that once closed in the early afternoon throng into the night.
Meanwhile, in the countryside, the insurgency continues to rage, with analysts warning of an uptick in jihadist violence this year.
