Shabaab hits hotel, military base with suicide assaults
In two days, Shabaab has launched two suicide assaults across southern Somalia. Additionally, it continues to target high-ranking government officials in a renewed assassination campaign.
In two days, Shabaab has launched two suicide assaults across southern Somalia. Additionally, it continues to target high-ranking government officials in a renewed assassination campaign.
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.