MOGADISHU: Al-Shabab fighters attacked a town in central Somalia on Wednesday that government forces have been using as a staging area for their efforts to drive back the militants, who have been gaining ground in recent weeks, residents said.
Advances by the Al-Qaeda affiliate, which included briefly capturing villages within 50 km (30 miles) of Mogadishu last month, have left residents of the capital on edge amid rumors Al-Shabab could target the city.
The army has recaptured those villages, but Al-Shabab has continued to advance in the countryside, leading the government to deploy police officers and prison guards to support the military, soldiers have told Reuters.
The town attacked on Wednesday, Adan Yabaal, lies around 245 kilometers north of Mogadishu and has been used as an operating base for raids on Al-Shabab.
President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, who hails from the area, visited Adan Yabaal last month to meet with military commanders there about reinforcing them.
“After early morning prayers, we heard a deafening explosion, then gunfire,” Fatuma Nur, a mother of four, told Reuters by telephone from Adan Yabaal. “Al-Shabab attacked us from two directions. I am indoors and fighting is still going on.”
The outcome of the battle was not immediately clear, with government forces and Al-Shabab giving conflicting accounts.
Captain Hussein Olow, a military officer in Adan Yabaal, told Reuters that government troops had pushed back the militants.
Al-Shabab, which has waged an insurgency since 2007 to seize power and rule based on its strict interpretation of Islamic Sharia law, said in a statement that its forces had overrun 10 military installations and captured the town.
National government officials did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The fighting comes as the future of international security support to Somalia has grown increasingly precarious.
A new African Union peacekeeping mission replaced a larger force at the start of the year, but its funding is uncertain, with the United States opposed to a plan to transition to a UN financing model.
Al-Shabab attacks strategic Somalia town as it presses offensive
https://arab.news/bepav
Al-Shabab attacks strategic Somalia town as it presses offensive
- Advances by the Al-Qaeda affiliate have left residents of the capital on edge amid rumors Al-Shabab could target the city
- Al-Shabab, which has waged an insurgency since 2007, said that its forces had overrun 10 military installations and captured the town
Indian PM urges Netanyahu ‘early’ end to hostilities
- Modi “conveyed India’s concerns over recent developments and emphasized the safety of civilians as a priority”
NEW DELHI: Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said Monday he had spoken with his Israeli counterpart and urged an “early” end to the conflict after strikes on Iran.
“India reiterates the need for an early cessation of hostilities,” Modi, who met with Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem on Thursday, wrote on X after the telephone call.
Modi “conveyed India’s concerns over recent developments and emphasized the safety of civilians as a priority.”
Modi also spoke to Emirati President Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, after Iran’s retaliatory missile and drone campaign in the Gulf.
“India stands in solidarity with the UAE in these difficult times,” Modi said on X.
“We support de-escalation, regional peace, security and stability.”
