A man threw a grenade into the money exchange center at the Bakara market in Mogadishu, killing at least two people and injuring four others, who included Yemenis. Officials arrested several suspects and blamed Shabaab for the attack, which occurred at the same time as a Shabaab massacre at a shopping mall in Nairobi, Kenya.
Somali government troops backed by African Union peacekeepers captured the town of Mahaday from Shabaab in the first military offensive in nine months. The town was taken with minimal resistance and was one of the last urban areas in central Somalia still under Shabaab control.
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Gunmen thought to belong to a pro-government militia killed a clan elder in Kismayo. More than 160 Somali clerics denounced Shabaab. The military claimed it disrupted more than 200 attacks in Mogadishu during the month of August.
The Muslim Youth Center, Shabaab’s affiliate in Kenya, said Hammami sowed discord, while the pro-Hammami Islamic World Issues Study Center asked what purpose his death served.
Reports indicate that Shabaab has killed American jihadist and one-time member Omar Hammami, along with a British fighter. Hammami, known by his nom de guerre Abu Mansour al Amriki, fell out with Shabaab leadership over the group’s ideological direction.
Shabaab’s intelligence service, the Amniyatt Mukhabarat, appears to have finally tracked down and killed Hammami, who has been at odds with the group’s emir for more than a year. Hammami recently renounced his ties to al Qaeda and Shabaab.
Five Shabaab fighters died in a fire at a prison in Bulo-Marer. Shabaab killed one person in a grenade attack in Beledweyne. Security forces detained dozens of suspected Shabaab fighters in Mogadishu.
Shabaab militants killed at least 15 people and wounded 23 more in a crowded Mogadishu restaurant in an attack involving a car bomb and a suicide bomber. Shabaab claimed the attack on the restaurant, which it has also attacked in September 2012, which is frequented by government officials and security personnel.
Omar Hammami, the American jihadist and designated terrorist, said he is no longer affiliated with Shabaab and al Qaeda, but is still a “terrorist.” Twitter closed down Shabaab’s account for the second time in a year.
Shabaab militants attacked a government convoy carrying President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud in southern Somalia. The attack was unsuccessful, and the president continued his tour in an attempt to placate southern clans frustrated with his government.
A district intelligence chief in Mogadishu was gunned down outside of his home. A government official was killed in an IED attack in the capital. Heavy fighting between Shabaab and Somali troops was reported in El Barde.
The al Qaeda affiliate said it was sending newly trained fighters to serve in the “Ali bin Abu Talib” battalion in central Somalia.
Shabaab claimed it killed 16 Ethiopian and 12 Somali soldiers in an attack in Ceelbarde, and 12 more Ethiopian troops in Bay. Shabaab also said that newly trained “Mujahideen fighters” are being deployed to Hiran and Galgaduud and are to serve with the “Ali bin Abu Talib” battalion.
Ten people were killed after Shabaab ambushed government forces in the Bakool area. Shabaab killed an intelligence official in the capital. Security forces detained 27 suspected Shabaab fighters during raids in Mogadishu.
Somali officials said that Shabaab insurgents in southern Somalia have engaged in multiple clashes with government troops and allied African Union forces. No casualty figures have been released, but Shabaab now controls the town of Qurac-Jome in the Bakool region.
Shabaab militants have begun looting Doctors Without Borders (MSF) facilities in southern Somalia. The medical aid organization announced that it is pulling out of the country after 22 years, after rampant abductions and attacks on its staff members. Its withdrawal comes in the midst of Somalia’s struggle to contain a polio outbreak.
“Gunmen” killed a Somali soldier in Baidoa. Security forces detained several Shabaab fighters in Marka. It is rumored that the government will free Hassan Dahir Aweys.
Shabaab fighters looted the offices of Medecins Sans Frontieres in Dinsoor in Bay. The government has requested that MSF reconsider its withdrawal from the country. AMISOM is investigating claims that its soldiers raped women at a camp in Mogadishu. At least 105 cases of polio have been reported in Somalia.
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Forces from the autonomous southern Somali state of Jubaland claimed victory against Shabaab after an overnight battle that left 20 Islamists and two civilians dead. Shabaab claimed responsibility for the Aug. 4 attack on African Union bases in nearby Baidoa.
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Shabaab freed two Kenyans who were kidnapped in northern Kenya and have been held for more than 18 months. Shabaab fighters also gunned down a farmer in Moqokori.
Yesterday, Shabaab claimed it killed 12 “African Crusaders” in a series of seven bombings in the port town of Marka. The military executed via firing squad four soldiers who were convicted of murder.
A Shabaab suicide car bomber rammed the gates of a building that houses Turkish Embassy staff in Mogadishu, killing three Somali civilians as well as the bomber, and wounding nine other people. A ceasefire was declared in Lower Shabelle yesterday following clashes between government troops belonging to the Bimayal clan and those belonging to the […]
One person was killed in a car bombing that targeted a politician in Mogadishu. The government executed two Shabaab fighters convicted of assassinating the Mufti of Puntland. Shabaab continues to claim it assassinated the CIA’s chief of operations in East Africa.
Eleven people have died from polio in the Hiran region; 71 cases of the deadly disease have been reported in Somalia. Security forces arrested a suspected Shabaab fighter who is accused of planting an IED that killed five people in Kismayo.
Ethiopia is withdrawing troops from the former Shabaab stronghold of Baidoa and will redeploy them to other areas where the al Qaeda-linked militants maintain a greater presence. Some 8,000 Ethiopian troops with the AMISOM force are currently in the country. The UN recently accused Eritrea of continuing to support Shabaab by paying for Islamists to […]
Shabaab killed an Africa Union soldier and a civilian in an IED attack in Kismayo. The deputy mayor of BaIdoa was seriously wounded after government forces clashed in the city. Ethiopian forces withdrew from Baidoa just two days ago.
Shabaab claimed it killed seven Ugandan “invaders” in an attack in Jannaale. Amniyat, Shabaab’s intelligence service, is in charge of protecting Sheikh Mukhtar Abu Zubayr, Shabaab’s emir.