Tuesday, Islamist Shebab insurgents attacked a military post north of the Somali capital, just as the Somali government thought it had defeated the jihadists by taking a key coastal town.
Different sources have given different numbers for how many soldiers were killed in the attack on the Hawadley military base, which is about 60 kilometers north of Mogadishu.
Army leader Odowaa Yusuf Rage claimed five soldiers, including an officer, were “killed as martyrs” in the assault while speaking on national radio.
AFP talked to a leader of a government-backed militia in the Hawadley area who said that 11 troops had been killed.
When this commander, Mohamed Osman, was called on the phone, he said, “The jihadists attacked a military base near Hawadley first, and then they blew up a car full of explosives.”
The Shebab, a group connected to al-Qaeda, claimed responsibility for the assault.
In October 2022, government forces and clan militias united in the fight against the jihadists and reclaimed the Hawadley base from the shebab.
Harardhere, a port city 500 km north of the capital that the government considers “important,” was taken back by the Somali army on Monday. It had been under the sheriff’s control since 2010. The recapture, according to the authorities, was a “historic victory.”
Since 2007, the Shebab have been at war with the federal government, which enjoys support from across the globe. They were driven from the nation’s major cities in 2011–2012, but they are still firmly established there.
The Islamist group will face an “all-out war,” according to President Hassan Sheikh Mohamoud, who took office again in May 2022 and recently referred to its members as “bedbugs.”
In September, the president sent the army, which included special troops, to help the “macawisley,” or local militias, fight the shebab.
With the help of American planes and the African Union force in Somalia (Atmis), this offensive was able to retake large parts of Hirshabelle and Galmudug, two central states.
Resentment
Adan Yabal, a well-known Hirshabelle locality held by the shebab since 2016, was reportedly used as a “training ground” and a logistics base for militants in the area. The government claimed to have retaken it in early December.
But the shebab keep launching brutal retaliation attacks, showing that they are able to hit important military and urban centers in Somalia.
Early in January, two car bombings in the central town of Mahas resulted in the deaths of 19 people.
The bloodiest incident in the Horn of Africa nation, which is also experiencing a historic drought, occurred on October 29 in Mogadishu when two vehicle bombs exploded. The explosions killed 121 people and injured 333 others.
Early in October, a triple attack in the central city of Beledweyne, the capital of the province of Hiran, left 30 people dead, including local leaders. At least 21 guests at a hotel in Mogadishu were killed in a stunning 30-hour attack in August.
The president said that more Somali soldiers who had been trained in Eritrea would be sent soon to fight the shebab.
