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
Four migrants die in US immigration custody over first 10 days of 2026
- Trump administration increases migrant detentions, aims for more deportations
- DHS says death rate aligns with historic norms amid rising detentions
WASHINGTON: Four migrants died while in custody of US immigration authorities over the first 10 days of 2026, according to government press releases, a loss of life that followed record detention deaths last year under President Donald Trump.
The deaths included two migrants from Honduras, one from Cuba and another from Cambodia, and occurred from January 3-9, according to US Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The Trump administration aims to ramp up deportations and has increased the number of migrants in detention. As of January 7, ICE statistics showed that the agency was detaining 69,000 people. The numbers were expected to rise following a massive ICE funding infusion passed by the US Congress last year. At least 30 people died in ICE custody in 2025, the highest level in two decades, agency figures showed.
Setareh Ghandehari, advocacy director at Detention Watch Network, called the high number of deaths “truly staggering” and urged the administration to shutter detention centers.
US Department of Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said the rate of deaths had remained in step with historic norms as the detention population has climbed. “As bed space has expanded, we have maintained higher standard of care than most prisons that hold US citizens — including providing access to proper medical care,” McLaughlin said.
The Cuban detainee, Geraldo Lunas Campos, 55, died on January 3 in Camp East Montana, a detention site opened by the Trump administration on the grounds of Fort Bliss in Texas. ICE said it was investigating the death of Lunas, adding that officials said he had become disruptive and placed him in isolation. Officials later found him in distress, and emergency medical technicians pronounced him dead, ICE said.
The two Honduran men — Luis Gustavo Nunez Caceres, 42, and Luis Beltran Yanez–Cruz, 68 — died in area hospitals in Houston and Indio, California, on January 5 and 6, respectively, both following heart-related issues, ICE said.
Parady La, a Cambodian man, 46, died on January 9 following severe drug withdrawal symptoms at the Federal Detention Center in Philadelphia, ICE said. The administration began using that space last year, it said. The Trump administration has greatly reduced the number of migrants released from detention on humanitarian grounds, a move critics say has driven some to accept deportation. In addition to the in-custody deaths, an ICE officer fatally shot a Minnesota mother of three last week, an incident that sparked protests in Minneapolis and cities around the country.
