Somalia Blocks Al-Shabaab Accounts on Social Media  

Al-Shabaab militants sit outside a building during patrol along the streets of Dayniile district in Southern Mogadishu, March 5, 2012. REUTERS/Feisal Omar 
Al-Shabaab militants sit outside a building during patrol along the streets of Dayniile district in Southern Mogadishu, March 5, 2012. REUTERS/Feisal Omar 
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Somalia Blocks Al-Shabaab Accounts on Social Media  

Al-Shabaab militants sit outside a building during patrol along the streets of Dayniile district in Southern Mogadishu, March 5, 2012. REUTERS/Feisal Omar 
Al-Shabaab militants sit outside a building during patrol along the streets of Dayniile district in Southern Mogadishu, March 5, 2012. REUTERS/Feisal Omar 

Somalia’s government has escalated its war against the extremist al-Shabaab Movement by blocking dozens of its accounts on various social media platforms, including Facebook, Twitter, Telegram, Tiktok and YouTube.

Deputy Minister of Information Abdirahman Yusuf Adala revealed on Tuesday that more than 600 electronic pages for al-Shabaab will be deleted.

The ministries of information, communications, and internal security will impose this ban, Somali National News Agency SONNA quoted him as saying.

Adala pointed out that the government is following up the terrorist cells and their attempts to publish the group’s ideology and false news.

He affirmed that the terrorist militias have been suffering since President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud launched the military offensive against the extremists.

Mohamud announced on Monday that soldiers training in Eritrea will return to Mogadishu in late December.

He made the remarks during his meeting with the Somali community in the US city of Minnesota.

Mohamud underscored the importance of the army in building the government and fighting the al-Shabaab militias, which are affiliated with al-Qaeda organization.

Meanwhile, a high-ranking al-Shabaab official and three other militants surrendered to the Somali National Forces in HirShabelle State on Monday.

The armed forces also arrested eight militants who were hiding in the liberated areas of the Middle Shabelle region.

The government said it is committed to care for those who abandoned the al-Shabaab’s ideology, as part of its fierce war against terrorists 



Chinese Hackers Reportedly Breached US Court Wiretap Systems

FILE PHOTO: US and Chinese flags are seen in this illustration taken, January 30, 2023. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: US and Chinese flags are seen in this illustration taken, January 30, 2023. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo
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Chinese Hackers Reportedly Breached US Court Wiretap Systems

FILE PHOTO: US and Chinese flags are seen in this illustration taken, January 30, 2023. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: US and Chinese flags are seen in this illustration taken, January 30, 2023. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo

Chinese hackers accessed the networks of US broadband providers and obtained information from systems that the federal government uses for court-authorized wiretapping, the Wall Street Journal reported on Saturday.

Verizon Communications, AT&T and Lumen Technologies are among the telecoms companies whose networks were breached by the recently discovered intrusion, the newspaper said, citing people familiar with the matter.

The hackers might have held access for months to network infrastructure used by the companies to cooperate with court-authorized US requests for communications data, the newspaper said. It said the hackers had also accessed other tranches of internet traffic.

China's foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment. Beijing has in the past denied claims by the US government and others that it has used hackers to break into foreign computer systems.
Verizon Communications, AT&T and Lumen Technologies did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The Wall Street Journal said the attack was carried out by a Chinese hacking group with the aim of collecting intelligence. US investigators have dubbed it "Salt Typhoon.”
Earlier this year, US law enforcement disrupted a major Chinese hacking group nicknamed "Flax Typhoon," months after confronting Beijing about sweeping cyber espionage under a campaign named "Volt Typhoon."