Category Archives: Al-Shabaab

Fresh Egypt arms shipment to Somalia raises regional tensions

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Ethiopia fears weapons could worsen security situation amid regional rows over water, territory and Red Sea access

Egypt has sent a second arms shipment to Somalia’s federal government in the space of a month, drawing criticism from its longstanding rival Ethiopia, amid concern about rising tensions in the Horn of Africa.

Egypt’s foreign ministry confirmed that a shipment had been sent, which it said was intended to “build the capabilities of the Somali army” to “achieve security and stability, combat terrorism, and uphold its sovereignty, unity, and territorial integrity”.

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At least 37 killed in terrorist attack on popular Mogadishu beach

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More than 200 wounded after suicide bomber and gunmen target busy beachfront in Somali capital

At least 37 people have been killed and more than 200 injured in a suicide bombing and gun attack at the popular Lido beach in the Somali capital of Mogadishu, police said. The attack happened on Friday night, when residents of the city typically gather at cafes near the seaside.

Agence France-Presse reported that police and witnesses said the bomber detonated his device late on Friday on the beach before gunmen stormed the area. State media said government forces “neutralised” the attackers after a gunfight.

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Somalian rebels kill one and abduct five after UN helicopter’s emergency landing

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Al-Shabaab fighters attack after aircraft carrying medical professionals and soldiers lands in their territory

Al-Shabaab fighters in Somalia have attacked a United Nations helicopter that made an emergency landing in rebel-held territory, killing one passenger and abducting five others.

The minister of internal security of Galmudug state in central Somalia, Mohamed Abdi Aden Gaboobe, said the helicopter made the landing in Xindheere village on Wednesday after engine failure.

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US and Somali forces kill al-Shabaab commander with $10m bounty on head

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Maalim Ayman was wanted over attack on airbase in Kenya in 2020 in which three Americans died

Somali troops and US forces have killed a senior commander of the al-Shabaab militant group who had a $10m bounty on his head over an attack that left three Americans dead.

“Maalim Ayman, a senior leader of al-Shabaab, was confirmed to have been killed in a joint operation by the Somali national army with assistance from US forces on December 17th,” Kenya’s information minister, Daud Aweis, said on X on Thursday.

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Al-Qaida and IS call on followers to strike Israeli, US and Jewish targets

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Israeli military offensive in Gaza offers opportunity to extremist groups in west and Middle East, experts say

Al-Qaida and Islamic State (IS) have called on their followers to strike Israeli, US and Jewish targets, raising the prospect of new terrorist violence in the Middle East or the west.

In a series of statements over the past two weeks, affiliates of al-Qaida congratulated Hamas on its “invasion of Israel”, a reference to the terrorist attacks that killed 1,400 people, mainly civilians, on 7 October.

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Nine people killed in attack by al-Shabaab in Somali capital Mogadishu

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Islamist militants claim responsibility for blast at popular restaurant on Friday night that injured 20 people

Nine people were killed in an attack claimed by al-Shabaab Islamist militants at an upmarket restaurant in the Somali capital, Mogadishu, on Friday night, police have said.

Those killed at the popular Pearl restaurant were six civilians and three soldiers, police said in a statement.

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Uganda says 54 African Union peacekeepers killed in Somalia by al-Shabaab militants

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Death toll one of heaviest since pro-government forces launched offensive against jihadists last August

Fifty-four Ugandan peacekeepers died when militants besieged an African Union base in Somalia last week, Uganda’s president, Yoweri Museveni, has said, in one of the worst recent attacks by al-Shabaab jihadists in the war-torn country.

“We discovered the lifeless bodies of 54 fallen soldiers, including a commander,” Museveni said in a Twitter post late on Saturday.

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Tens of thousands of refugees flee from Somaliland clashes

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Somalis arrive in Ethiopia from disputed town of Las Anod, where at least 82 people have died in fighting

More than 60,000 Somali refugees have fled to Ethiopia after an escalation in fighting in the town of Las Anod, in the Sool region, where tensions between local people and the governing Somaliland authorities have been building for weeks.

The UN said the refugees had arrived in part of Ethiopia that had been badly hit by drought after five consecutive failed rains, and that many people were sleeping in the open, or sheltering in schools and other public buildings.

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Rights abuses often ‘tipping point’ for extremist recruitment, UN study finds

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Quality education and exposure to different cultures identified as key preventive factors in African survey

Human rights abuses committed by security forces and economic deprivation are among the most important drivers of recruitment to extremist groups in Africa, a survey has found.

Researchers working for the UN Development Programme (UNDP) interviewed more than 1,000 active or recent militants across eight countries in Africa in the pioneering study.

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Mogadishu car bombs leave ‘scores of civilian casualties’

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Two explosions occur at same busy junction where al-Shabaab blasts killed 500 people five years ago

Two car bombs have exploded at a busy junction in Mogadishu near key government offices, leaving “scores of civilian casualties,” police told Somali state media.

The attack on Saturday occurred five years after a massive blast at the same location killed hundreds of people.

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UK’s lost leadership role hurts Somalia’s fight against famine, says drought envoy

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Britain is no longer the key humanitarian player and ‘great ally’ it once was, says envoy trying to get support for Somalia’s drought

The UK has lost its leadership role in the world and is letting down its allies, a senior official in the Somali government has said.

Abdirahman Abdishakur Warsame, the presidential envoy for Somalia’s drought response, said Britain used to be second only to the US as a key player in international forums and advocacy, but has since slipped, saying that countries such as Somalia were being left without support to face “the new climate reality”.

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At least 19 killed in Somalia in attack by al-Shabaab insurgents

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The killings come two weeks after group besieged a hotel in Mogadishu for 30 hours, leaving 21 dead

Fighters from the Islamist insurgent group al-Shabaab have killed at least 19 civilians in a night-time attack in central Somalia, clan chiefs and local officials said on Saturday.

The attack comes two weeks after al-Shabaab, which has waged a long insurgency against the Somali state, besieged a hotel in the capital Mogadishu for 30 hours, leaving 21 people dead and 117 injured.

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Several killed as jihadist group seizes hotel in Somali capital

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Government forces retake Hayat in Mogadishu after it was overrun by al-Shabaab fighters

Somali forces have ended the siege at a hotel in the capital Mogadishu after it was overrun by Islamic extremist gunmen in one of the most deadly and high-profile attacks in recent years.

According to police and witnesses, at least 20 people are believed to have been killed and 40 wounded during the attack, which has been claimed by the al-Qaida-linked group al-Shabaab.

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Al-Qaida chief’s killing comes as group gains ground in African conflict zones

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UN says terror organisation, whose affiliate recently attacked Mali’s most important military base, ‘is once again the leader of global jihad’

It was one of Ayman al-Zawahiri’s last victories. Just over a week before the al-Qaida leader was killed in Kabul by missiles fired from a US drone, militants from the organisation’s biggest affiliate in sub-Saharan Africa attacked the most important military base in Mali.

The tactics of the attack were familiar – suicide bombers blowing a gap in defences to allow gunmen to reached stunned defenders – but the operation marked a major escalation.

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Raising cash for water: why Somalis are bypassing aid agencies in drought crisis

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Analysis: with more than 6 million people in need, there is anger at perceived lack of action from the government and the UN

The UN this week issued a stark warning on Somalia, projecting that 350,000 children could starve to death without urgent action.

The country is in the middle of a drought that is already killing people. Some regions in the Horn of Africa are the hottest they have been since satellites started recording data 40 years ago, according to an analysis by the World Food Programme.

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Female opposition MP among dozens killed in Somalia bombings

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Al-Shabaab claim responsibility for attacks, including that which killed Amina Mohamed Abdi in run-up to elections this week

A “fearless” Somali female MP was among dozens of people killed in a series of bomb attacks in rural Somalia on Wednesday.

According to a witness quoted by the Associated Press, the bomber ran towards and embraced opposition MP Amina Mohamed Abdi before detonating a bomb as she campaigned in the town of Beledweyne in central Somalia ahead of parliamentary elections this week.

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Mogadishu car bombing kills at least nine people, says official

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Al-Shabaab claims responsibility for suicide attack on convoy of senior police official in Somali capital

A suicide car bomb targeting a government convoy exploded at a busy junction in the Somali capital, Mogadishu, killing at least nine people and injuring eight others, a health official said.

The convoy was carrying a senior police official, Farhan Mohamud, who survived the attack on Saturday, the government news agency reported.

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Somalia’s rival factions spread across Mogadishu as they jockey for power

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Opposition leaders leave airport bolthole as they step up pressure over contested presidency of Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed

After months living at an upmarket inn close to Mogadishu’s airport, Somalia’s opposition leaders, including two former presidents and their armed teams, have decamped, spreading across the capital in what is seen as a strategic move.

The sitting president, Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed “Farmaajo”, has meanwhile flown to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where he reportedly hopes to win support for an extension of his presidential term from the African Union.

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Escaped girls tell of insurgents’ mass abductions in Mozambique

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Interviews undermine the US state department claim that extremist group has links to Islamic State

Insurgents in Mozambique have abducted hundreds of women and girls, forcing many into sexual relations with fighters and possibly trafficking others elsewhere in Africa, interviews with some who have escaped the extremists reveal.

Most of the abducted women are under 18, with the youngest about 12 years old. They are being held in a series of camps and bases across insurgent-controlled territory in north-eastern Mozambique.

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The world has a vested interest in Somalia. Will it act to stop its collapse? | Vava Tampa

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Starvation, al-Shabaab and postponed elections have made the country a ready gun. If the trigger is pulled, global trade is at risk

Frantz Fanon once quipped: “Africa is shaped like a revolver, and Congo is the trigger.”

More than 60 years later, I think the French philosopher’s assessment is only half true. It leaves out Somalia – which once held the crown as the “Switzerland of Africa”, but is now again on the verge of political disintegration.

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