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Voice of America
20-02-2025
- Politics
- Voice of America
Somali government says attacks on bases repulsed, 130 militants killed
Officials in Somalia say 130 militants were killed Thursday as Somali National Army troops 'repulsed' attacks on four government military bases in the center of the country. VOA Somali was not able to immediately confirm the death toll from the fighting, which took place in an area where government forces have clashed repeatedly with al-Shabab in recent days. In a statement, Somalia's Ministry of Information said that militants used explosives to attack the bases in the Middle Shabelle region. "Al-Shabab suffered a heavy defeat and our brave heroes are actively pursuing the remaining militants. Somalia will never falter in its fight against terrorism," the ministry said. The statement said government forces also recovered weapons from the defeated militant fighters. For the last couple of weeks, Somali government forces, supported by local clan militias, have carried out operations aimed at securing rural villages along the Shabelle River that were recently liberated from al-Shabab. General Ibrahim Mumin, the commander of the 3rd division of the Somali National Army, told VOA Somali that Thursday's al-Shabab attacks 'failed' as government troops fought off the militants. Mumin said defensive barriers erected by the soldiers in anticipation of al-Shabab attacks prevented the explosives from penetrating the military bases. Neither the information ministry nor the commander provided casualty totals for government forces, but a local resident told VOA at least five soldiers were killed and more than 10 others injured. In separate clashes on Thursday, at least 20 Islamic State militants were killed, and dozens were injured in Somalia's northeastern Puntland region, according to officials. Puntland police commissioner Brigadier General Mumin Abdi Shire told VOA that Islamic state militants suffered heavy casualties. 'Our brave men carried out military operations around the villages of Dhasaq and Dandamale near the Togga Jacel area of the Cal Miskaad mountains, killing at least 20 militants. All of them foreigners,' Shire said. Al-Shabab has been fighting Somali governments since 2007 to impose its strict brand of Islamic law on the country. In the northeast, Puntland began a major offensive against Islamic State in December and claims to have since killed nearly 200 Islamic State fighters, dozens of them foreign fighters, and captured villages and bases in the mountainous area controlled by IS. This month, U.S. warplanes twice targeted the Islamic State affiliate in the area, hitting what officials described as high-ranking operatives in the terror group's mountainous stronghold. Among those killed was Ahmed Maeleninine, an Omani-born leader of Islamic State, officials of the Puntland region said last week.
Voice of America
12-02-2025
- Politics
- Voice of America
Key Islamic State planner killed in airstrike, US and Somali officials say
Ahmed Maeleninine, an Omani-born leader of Islamic State, was killed in U.S. airstrikes against the terror group in Somalia earlier this month, officials of the Puntland region said Wednesday. Maeleninine was the main target of the Feb. 1 airstrike against Islamic State hideouts in the semi-autonomous region of northern Somalia. In an interview with VOA Somali, the Puntland state minister for presidency, Abdifitah Mohamed Abdinur, said Somalia and its international security partners had been watching Maeleninine's movements in the region. 'He was an Omani-born man in his 40s who was wanted for international crimes and his movements and activities have been followed at least for the last two years, as he was hiding in the mountainous area of Puntland,' Abdinur said. 'He was a thorn removed from the flesh of Somalis and the world population, and he eventually tasted what he deserved.' The U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) confirmed late Tuesday that Maeleninine and 13 other operatives linked to the Islamic State — also known as IS, ISIL or Daesh — were killed in the Feb. 1 operation, which it said was run in coordination with the Somali government. In a statement, AFRICOM described Maeleninine as a "recruiter, financier, and external operations leader responsible for the deployment of jihadists into the United States and across Europe." Abdinur said Puntland officials are still collecting the names and nationalities of the other 13 IS figures killed and will share them with the media when their identities are confirmed. Assessing the success of the U.S. strikes was delayed due to the location of the targets and the terrain — a series of cave complexes in the Cal Miskaad area of Somalia's Golis Mountains. At the time, a Somalia commander told VOA the U.S. strikes had targeted at least 10 locations. Residents in Qandala, a small town in Puntland's Bari region, not far from the site of the attacks, told VOA that they heard at least seven explosions and saw plumes of smoke and flames. IS has increased its presence in Somalia over the past several years, while IS-Somalia has become a key cog in the IS financial network, funneling money to affiliates in Afghanistan and elsewhere in Africa. The Somali branch has simultaneously become more influential under the leadership of Abdulkadir Mumin, a former militant with al-Qaida-linked al-Shabab, who is thought to head IS's directorate of provinces, overseeing the terror group's affiliates in Africa. Some U.S. officials worry Mumin has risen even higher, perhaps acting as Islamic State's top emir. Others disagree, but there is consensus that Mumin is nonetheless a pivotal figure. VOA's Jeff Seldin, Harun Maruf and Fadumo Jama contributed to this report.
