Following severe droughts, a Somali mother and her children stand next to the carcasses of their deceased livestock near Dolo, Gedo area, Somalia, on May 26, 2022. (Reuters)
According to a local source and an official, 12 people were slain while digging a well in the drought-stricken southern Somalia by gunmen from the terrorist group Al-Shabab.
Since 2006, thousands of people have died in the fight between the central government and al-Shabab, an organisation linked to al-Qaeda.
Although local self-defense organisations have helped Somali security forces in recent engagements, which they claim to have won, al-Shabab has continued to carry out brutal attacks.
The most recent assault happened in the southern town of Jarili in the Gedo region when armed individuals ambushed a drilling crew at their job site and set their bodies and drilling equipment on fire.
The United Nations has issued a famine alert as a result of the worst drought to hit the Horn of Africa in 40 years.
Because Al-Shabab is giving us such troubles at a time when our area is experiencing drought and water shortages, Abdi told Reuters, “I feel extremely sad about it.”
Six Al-Shabaab militants were also killed by security troops, according to the mayor of Jareli, who also confirmed the death toll.
President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud was quoted by the Somali National News Agency as saying that the Mogadishu police head, his two bodyguards, and a journalist who was with the police were all killed in a separate incident in the capital city of Mogadishu.
40 Al-Shabab fighters were earlier slain by the National Army in an attack in the central Hiran region.
The official news agency was informed by National Army commanders that 40 terrorists were killed amid fierce battle in the Syl-Coxel area.
The national army’s top commanders were quoted by the outlet as adding, “We are now searching for the last fleeing fanatics.”
Heavy fighting with the Somali army claimed the life of Elmi Hagar Gure, a well-known front-line soldier against Al-Shabab.
He played a key role in the offensive campaign against the Al-Qaeda-affiliated Al-Shabaab group, and his work helped free many Al-Shabaab-held regions in the Hiran region.
In Somalia, the Al-Shabaab gang kills 12 civilians while excavating a well.
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