Fresh operation in Somalia kills at least 61 al-Shabaab fighters
MOGADISHU, Somalia (AA) – At least 61 al-Shabaab fighters were killed and dozens others wounded in Somalia in an operation by the country’s National Intelligence and Security Agency (NISA), Information Ministry said on Monday.
The operation against al-Qaeda-affiliated group was backed by Somalia’s international partners in the country’s south-central province of Middle Shabelle.
The ministry said in a statement that the operation targeted Khawarij militias planning to attack the national army and the local forces in Hawadlay.
Somalia’s deputy Information Minister Abdirahman Yusuf al-Adalla, who spoke to journalists in the capital Mogadishu, said the group suffered a heavy defeat and “the conspiracies they have been working on to destroy the national army camp on the outskirts of Hawadley” were foiled.
It is the first such operation conducted by the army backed by the international partners in the Horn of Africa nation since the beginning of the year.
The Middle Shabelle region has seen an increased military operations since Somalia’s President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud declared a “total war” on the group after his re-election last year.
The military last month said it had liberated the strategic town of Runirgod from al-Shabaab.
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