Shabaab’s suicide bombing against Somalia’s top general is the latest in the group’s recent attacks against government officials. The bombing also continues the current spate of increased suicide bombings across the country.
In the span of four days, the Al Qaeda branch has claimed the use of two suicide car bombings on Somali and Turkish military bases in two different areas of Somalia.
The month of May saw a relative spike in Islamic State claims inside Somalia compared to earlier months. However, this comes in the backdrop of several Puntland security operations against it.
The Al Qaeda branch claims its men enacted “heavy losses” to AMISOM and Kenyan troops in southern Somalia. African Union troops and the Somali government have stated otherwise, however.
AFRICOM has stepped up its air campaign against Shabaab since the beginning of the year, targeting the group 33 times.
U.S. Africa Command said it killed the Shabaab commander was “in charge of planning and directing terrorist operations” along the Kenyan border, including the raid on the Manda Bay Airfield. Three Americans were killed in that attack.
Al-Qaeda’s senior leadership released a statement praising the jihadists in Mali and elsewhere in Western Africa for confronting the “Crusaders.” Al-Qaeda’s management team encourages them to dismantle the “French and American project” across the region.
Ali Mohamud Rage, a senior Shabaab official, has released a video concerning the group’s assault on the Manda Bay Airfield earlier this week. Three Americans were killed during the attack, which Rage says was “carried out under the guidance and direction” of Ayman al-Zawahiri.
