At least 200 members of the Somali jihadist group Al Shabab They were killed in an operation carried out this Thursday by the Army with the help of its international partners in the center of the country, the Somali government reported Thursday.
As declared by the Deputy Minister of Information, Abdirahman Yusuf Sheik Adala, the confrontation took place in the Middle Shabelle region and allowed the recovery of 300 weapons, as well as medical materials and food.
Among the terrorists killed in the operation were four commanders of the group, while five soldiers lost their lives.
His story
Al Shabab, affiliated group since 2012 to the network Al Qaeda, It often carries out terrorist attacks in the Somali capital and other parts of the country to overthrow the central government backed by the international community and establish an ultra-conservative Wahhabi-style Islamic state. The jihadist group controls rural areas in central and southern Somalia and attacks neighboring countries such as Kenya and Ethiopia.
The president of Somalia, Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, announced last August a “total war” against Al Shabab and the Army has carried out intense offensives against the terrorists, sometimes with the military collaboration of the United States. The Somali authorities have recaptured numerous territories and strategic locations.
counterattack
In response, the group has launched heavy attacks in recent months, including a two-car bomb attack on the Ministry of Education in Mogadishu, which killed 120 people on October 29.
Somalia has lived in a state of war and chaos since 1991, when dictator Mohamed Siad Barre was overthrown, leaving the country without an effective government and in the hands of Islamist militias and warlords.