MOGADISHU, Somalia
Eleven soldiers including a senior commander were Tuesday killed in an attack on an army camp north of Mogadishu claimed by Al-Shabaab, a militia commander in the area told AFP.
"Eleven members of the
army, including a senior military commander, died in the attack, and dozens of
the terrorists were killed," Mohamed Osman, a local clan militia commander
allied with the government, said by phone of the attack in Hawadley.
He said the Islamists
detonated a car packed with explosives outside the camp 60 kilometres north of
Mogadishu before armed men stormed the compound.
Ahmed Mohamud, a military
commander with the Somali National Army (SNA) in the nearby town of Balcad,
said more than 10 people had died in the attack but added the toll was
provisional.
"The terrorists have been
repelled and the Somali army are in full control of the area,” he said.
The attack was claimed by the Al-Shabab, an al-Qaeda affiliated group.
The Hawadley base was retaken
from the Al-Shabab in October 2022 by government forces and clan militias
allied in the fight against the jihadists.
On Monday, the Somali army
recaptured Harardhere, a port city considered "strategic" by the
authorities located about 500 km north of the capital, which has been
controlled by the Al-Shabab since 2010. The government said the recapture was a
"historic victory".
The Al-Shabab have been
fighting the internationally-backed federal government since 2007. Driven out
of the country's main cities in 2011-2012, they remain firmly entrenched in
vast rural areas.
President Hassan Sheikh
Mohamoud, who returned to power in May 2022, has promised an "all-out
war" against the Islamist group, and recently referred to its members as
"bedbugs.
In September, the president sent
the army - including special forces - to support local militias, known as
"macawisley", who have rebelled against the Al-Shabab.
This offensive, supported by
the African Union force in Somalia (Atmis) and U.S. airstrikes, recaptured
large areas of two central states, Hirshabelle and Galmudug.
Notably, the government
claimed in early December to have retaken Adan Yabal, an iconic Hirshabelle
locality held by the Al-Shabab since 2016 and touted as a "training
ground" and logistical hub for insurgents in the region.
But the Al-Shabab continue to
carry out bloody retaliatory attacks, underscoring their ability to strike at
the heart of Somali cities and military installations.
Nineteen people were killed in
two car bombs in the central town of Mahas in early January.
On October 29, two car bombs
exploded in Mogadishu, killing 121 people and injuring 333 others in the
deadliest attack in five years in the Horn of Africa country, which is also
suffering from a historic drought.
A triple attack in the central
city of Beledweyne, capital of Hiran province, killed 30 people, including
local officials, in early October. At least 21 guests at a Mogadishu hotel were
killed in August in a spectacular 30-hour assault.
The president announced that
new contingents of Somali soldiers, trained in Eritrea, would soon be deployed
in anti-Al-Shabab operations.
Al-Shabaab, a militant group
allied with Al-Qaeda that controls swathes of countryside in Somalia, claimed
responsibility for the attack via its communication channels.
The attack comes a day after
the army captured the strategic coastal town of Haradhere that had been under
Al-Shabaab control for more than a decade. - AFP
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