The US Department of the Treasury on Monday imposed sanctions on what it said was an international fundraising and money-laundering network for the Al-Shabaab militant group operating in Somalia.
The sanctions targeted 16 entities and individuals across the Horn of Africa region, the United Arab Emirates and Cyprus, the Treasury said in a statement.
The action, which follows US sanctions against a separate network linked to al Shabaab in October 2022, freeze any US assets of those targeted and generally bars Americans from dealing with them.
The Treasury said Al-Shabaab, which Washington considers a terrorist group, generates over $100 million a year, including by extorting local businesses.
“The threat posed by Al-Shabaab is not limited to Somalia,” State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said in a statement.
He added that “Al-Shabaab’s revenues are disbursed to other Qaeda-linked groups worldwide and help fund al-Qaeda’s global ambitions to commit acts of terrorism and undermine good governance.”
Separately, the Somali National Army said its forces killed three Al-Shabaab militants in the Lower Shabelle region.
The country’s news agency, SONNA, said the army carried operations against the militant group while it was planning a terrorist act.
It added that the army destroyed explosives the group was preparing.
According to the agency, the National Army confirmed the killing of several members of the Kharijite (the term the Somali government uses to refer to the Islamist group) during operations conducted in the federal states of Galmudug, Jubaland and Hirshabelle.
Al Shabaab, linked to Qaeda, has been waging an insurgency against the Somali government since 2006 in a bid to establish its own rule based on a strict interpretation of Islamic Sharia law.
Later, the Somali police announced that Al-Shabaab militant group attacked three strategic neighborhoods in the capital Mogadishu. It said night shells fell on the Bondir area, where the residences of President Hassan Sheikh Mahmud and Prime Minister Hamza Abdi Barre are located.
For his part, police officer Mohamed Dahir told the German news agency that no deaths were reported, but that the attack left several injuries.
Two shells also damaged a police building in the Abdulaziz neighborhood, near the presidential palace, Dahir said, adding that at least four police officers were injured.
Another shell fell near the headquarters of the Intelligence and Security Service. Police have launched a massive manhunt for the militants.
Later, Al-Shabaab claimed responsibility for the attack via a statement on its Radio al Andalus.
