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.



Sudan Army Says Recaptures Key State Capital

Sudanese civilians displaced by offensive south of Khartoum earlier this year dream of returning to their homes after the regular army retakes territory - AFP
Sudanese civilians displaced by offensive south of Khartoum earlier this year dream of returning to their homes after the regular army retakes territory - AFP
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Sudan Army Says Recaptures Key State Capital

Sudanese civilians displaced by offensive south of Khartoum earlier this year dream of returning to their homes after the regular army retakes territory - AFP
Sudanese civilians displaced by offensive south of Khartoum earlier this year dream of returning to their homes after the regular army retakes territory - AFP

The Sudanese army said Saturday it had retaken a key state capital south of Khartoum from rival Rapid Support Forces who had held it for the past five months.

The Sennar state capital of Sinja is a strategic prize in the 19-month-old war between the regular army and the RSF as it lies on a key road linking army-controlled areas of eastern and central Sudan.

It posted footage on social media that it said had been filmed inside the main base in the city.

"Sinja has returned to the embrace of the nation," the information minister of the army-backed government, Khaled al-Aiser, said in a statement.

Aiser's office said armed forces chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan had travelled to the city of Sennar, 60 kilometres (40 miles) to the north, on Saturday to "inspect the operation and celebrate the liberation of Sinja", AFP reported.

The RSF had taken the two cities in a lightning offensive in June that saw nearly 726,000 civilians flee, according to UN figures.

Human rights groups have said that those who were unwilling or unable to leave have faced months of arbitrary violence by RSF fighters.

Sinja teacher Abdullah al-Hassan spoke of his "indescribable joy" at seeing the army enter the city after "months of terror".

"At any moment, you were waiting for militia fighters to barge in and beat you or loot you," the 53-year-old told AFP by telephone.

Both sides in the Sudanese conflict have been accused of war crimes, including indiscriminately shelling homes, markets and hospitals.

The RSF has also been accused of summary executions, systematic sexual violence and rampant looting.

The RSF control nearly all of the vast western region of Darfur as well as large swathes of Kordofan in the south. They also hold much of the capital Khartoum and the key farming state of Al-Jazira to its south.

Since April 2023, the war has killed tens of thousands of people and uprooted more than 11 million -- creating what the UN says is the world's largest displacement crisis.

From the eastern state of Gedaref -- where more than 1.1 million displaced people have sought refuge -- Asia Khedr, 46, said she hoped her family's ordeal might soon be at an end.

"We'll finally go home and say goodbye to this life of displacement and suffering," she told AFP.