According to Somali government reports, 88 militants were killed in the Middle Shabelle region

In a joint operation by the Somali National Army and allied clan militias last week in the Middle Shabelle region, 88 al-Shabab extremists were killed, according to Somalia’s Deputy Information Minister Abdirahman Yusuf Al-Adala.

According to the minister, national troops routed the militants who were reorganising in those locations and took back Juhay village. The bodies of the militants who were slain are being collected by the forces, he added.

Abdisalam Guled, who runs a security company in Mogadishu and is the founder of Eagle Range Services, says that the victory over al-Shabab in Middle Shabelle is a big boost for the ongoing operation by government forces and local militias.

Guled said, however, that there is contention that tribal troops are in charge of the conflict against al-Shabab while the government is merely participating. He warned that if the government gives the militias the lead, it could lose control of the campaign.

He said that after the Hawadle clan led the fight against al-Shabab in the Hiiraan region and won, it looks like the Abgaal clan is in charge of the conflict in the Middle Shabelle region, with help from the government.

Guled, who was once the national deputy director of intelligence, said that before opening up new battlefronts, the government should make a concerted effort to finish the operations that are already going on in the core areas.

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Early this month, the federal government announced that it would begin operations in the Jubaland and South West state regions. However, security analysts warn that this move may strain available resources and give al-Shabab more room to retaliate.

Guled said that before the end of January, the administration should formulate a strategy for the conflict. He said that the next target should be the town of Harardhere, which is still a stronghold for al-Shabab in central Somalia.

Prime Minister Hamza Barre said that al-Shabab militants should be hunted down even inside mosques when he went to the Middle Shabelle village of Adan Yabal, which had just been taken.

Abdiaziz Hussein Issack, a security and political expert at the Hamad Bin Khalifa Civilization Institution in Denmark, says that the extremist group has been using mosques as defence positions and hiding places.

Issack denied allegations that al-Shabab was planning to fabricate a story in order to discredit the government by exploiting the prime minister’s order.He said that al-Shabab fighters should be killed if they are using a mosque as a defensive position and shooting at soldiers. In that case, the government’s order to kill fighters in mosques wouldn’t hurt anything.

According to recent reports from the federal administration, the Community Defense Forces’ attack with clan militias has killed more than 600 al-Shabab fighters and taken control of dozens of communities in the country’s central regions.