UPDATE: At least seven Al Shabab militants were killed in an operation carried out near Kismayo, a town lies some 500km south of Mogadishu. https://t.co/ajVPGFR7k8
— Shabelle Media Network (@ShabelleMedia) August 13, 2023
The specially U.S-trained forces from SNA’s Danab commando brigade raided villages under Janay Abdale in the Lower Jubba region, south of Somalia.
In the operation, the army killed 7 of the fighters of the al-Shabaab
...... the personification of Somali state failure...group, who were at a training base during a shootout that lasted for several hours, according to the residents.
The commander of the 5th unit of the Danab Arab Dheeg Ahmed said that the operation targeted a place where the group was gathering to plan an attack on the military bases.
In addition, Ahmed said that the Danab soldiers and the Jubbaland Darwish forces are carrying out joint operations to drive the al-Shabaab from the remaining areas in Jubaland.
This operation coincides with raids in the areas of Baladul Amin, Baladul Karim, and Bulo Fulay in the Lower Shabelle and Baay regions, killing 41 al-Shabaab fighters on Saturday.
Somali forces have had success against the group. The first offensive against al-Shabaab under Mohamud focused on the Middle Shabelle, Galgadud, and Hiran regions. During that effort, Somali Soldiers with clan militias liberated 80 areas, including Rage-El, a village in the Middle Shabelle region that had been under al-Shabaab control for 13 years.
Somali Govt says army killed 23 militants, including Al-Shabaab commanders in Bula Fakay town
[ShabelleMedia] The SNA forces carried out a planned operation targeting various centers of the al-Shabaab
...... Somalia's version of the Taliban, functioning as an arm of al-Qaeda...group in Buulo Fulay town of ​​Bay region, Southwest State.
A statement issued by the government said that the SNA targeted administrative offices, a garage for explosives preparation, and a checkpoint manned by al-Shabaab fighters.
During the operation, the federal government said that 23 members of the al-Shabaab group, including senior commanders, were killed and dozens have sustained wounds.
This is the third of its kind this month that the Somali government forces have targeted al-Shabaab centers where the group was preparing explosive vehicles and the other bases.
In August 2022, Mohamud launched a "total war" against al-Shabaab. In the first phase, Somali forces concentrated on the central regions of Hirshabelle and Galmudug
...a semiautonomous region in central Somalia, bordering Puntland on the north. Galmudug is not trying to obtain international recognition as a separate nation, but rather considers itself autonomous within the larger Somali federalism, for what that's worth...
, supporting local clans that were rebelling against al-Shabaab.
Though the government offensive has weakened al-Shabaab’s hold on territory, it has not stopped the group’s attacks. In 2022, there was a 41 percent increase in al-Shabaab violence targeting civilians.
Al-Shabaab attacks reached their peak in 2011 when the bully boys’ controlled parts of the capital city of Mogadishu and the vital port of Kismayo
...a port city in the southern Lower Juba province of Somalia, at the extreme southern end of the country (always assuming Somalia can be called a country). It is the commercial capital of the autonomous Jubaland region....
, now under Jubaland state.