Somalia: Over 40 Shabaab Terrorists Killed in New Military Operation

People gather outside their destroyed shops after a suicide bomber detonated at the Banadir regional administration in Mogadishu, Sunday, Jan.22, 2023. (AP)
People gather outside their destroyed shops after a suicide bomber detonated at the Banadir regional administration in Mogadishu, Sunday, Jan.22, 2023. (AP)
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Somalia: Over 40 Shabaab Terrorists Killed in New Military Operation

People gather outside their destroyed shops after a suicide bomber detonated at the Banadir regional administration in Mogadishu, Sunday, Jan.22, 2023. (AP)
People gather outside their destroyed shops after a suicide bomber detonated at the Banadir regional administration in Mogadishu, Sunday, Jan.22, 2023. (AP)

The Somali army announced on Monday that it has killed 40 members of the extremist al-Shabaab Movement in a new military operation in the Mudug governorate.

The government confirmed that the security forces and intelligence services killed all the perpetrators of the terrorist attack that the group carried out against a municipality building in Mogadishu on Sunday.

A "military operation" was carried out in cooperation with international partners in the Bir Farah area, where members of the al-Qaeda-linked Shabaab were located, reported the Somali National News Agency (SONNA).

The army took complete control of the area and kicked off combing operations to secure it.

Somali police spokesman Sadek Adam said the security forces had deterred the Shabaab attack on Sunday.

The security forces were vigilant and thwarted the terrorists, he added, revealing that six civilians were killed in the attack.

The Somali Ministry of Information had said the police rescued officials and municipal employees and killed six terrorists.

Acting Governor of Banaadir Issa Ghouri visited the injured in the hospital, pledging that the government will cover the cost of their treatment.

Shabaab extremists kicked off Sunday’s attack by storming the Banadir Regional Administration headquarters in Mogadishu.

The attackers opened fire, killing at least six people. A police officer told the German news agency that among the dead were two security forces, three civilians, and the suicide bomber.

Separately on Monday, President Hassan Sheikh Mahmud inaugurated the conference of Somali religious scholars in Mogadishu.

The event was organized by Minister of Endowments and Religious Affairs Mukhtar Robow, the former leader of the Shabaab Movement.

The four-day meeting will focus on the fundamental understanding of Islam, correcting misconceptions about the religion, and rejecting extremist ideology.



Fears for Gaza Hospitals as Fuel and Aid Run Low

The Palestinian health ministry in Gaza said Friday that hospitals have only two days' fuel left before they must restrict services, after the UN warned aid delivery to the war-devastated territory is being crippled. - AFP
The Palestinian health ministry in Gaza said Friday that hospitals have only two days' fuel left before they must restrict services, after the UN warned aid delivery to the war-devastated territory is being crippled. - AFP
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Fears for Gaza Hospitals as Fuel and Aid Run Low

The Palestinian health ministry in Gaza said Friday that hospitals have only two days' fuel left before they must restrict services, after the UN warned aid delivery to the war-devastated territory is being crippled. - AFP
The Palestinian health ministry in Gaza said Friday that hospitals have only two days' fuel left before they must restrict services, after the UN warned aid delivery to the war-devastated territory is being crippled. - AFP

The Palestinian health ministry in Gaza said Friday that hospitals have only two days' fuel left before they must restrict services, after the UN warned aid delivery to the war-devastated territory is being crippled.

The warning came a day after the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former defence minister Yoav Gallant more than a year into the Gaza war.

The United Nations and others have repeatedly decried humanitarian conditions, particularly in northern Gaza, where Israel said Friday it had killed two commanders involved in Hamas's October 7, 2023 attack that triggered the war.

Gaza medics said an overnight Israeli raid on the cities of Beit Lahia and nearby Jabalia resulted in dozens killed or missing.

Marwan al-Hams, director of Gaza's field hospitals, told reporters all hospitals in the Palestinian territory "will stop working or reduce their services within 48 hours due to the occupation's (Israel's) obstruction of fuel entry".

World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said he was "deeply concerned about the safety and well-being of 80 patients, including 8 in the intensive care unit" at Kamal Adwan hospital, one of just two partly operating in northern Gaza.

Kamal Adwan director Hossam Abu Safia told AFP it was "deliberately hit by Israeli shelling for the second day" Friday and that "one doctor and some patients were injured".

Late Thursday, the UN's humanitarian coordinator for the Palestinian territories, Muhannad Hadi, said: "The delivery of critical aid across Gaza, including food, water, fuel and medical supplies, is grinding to a halt."

He said that for more than six weeks, Israeli authorities "have been banning commercial imports" while "a surge in armed looting" has hit aid convoys.

Issuing the warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant, the Hague-based ICC said there were "reasonable grounds" to believe they bore "criminal responsibility" for the war crime of starvation as a method of warfare, and crimes against humanity including over "the lack of food, water, electricity and fuel, and specific medical supplies".

At least 44,056 people have been killed in Gaza during more than 13 months of war, most of them civilians, according to figures from Gaza's health ministry which the United Nations considers reliable.