Monday, November 12, 2012
At least 10 people have been killed and 15 others injured after al-Shabab militants carried out ambush attacks at a Somali military base in the capital Mogadishu, Press TV reports.
The attacks took place on Monday on the outskirt of Elasha Biyaha town where at least ten people, three soldiers and seven civilians, were killed.
Somali officer Colonel Abdullahi Caabi also confirmed the casualties.
This comes as African Union (AU) troops and Somali government forces arrested at least 62 al-Shabab militants, including 22 commanders of the group, during an operation in the same town on October 25.
On November 9, clashes between Somali government troopers and al-Shabab fighters in the town of Lego in the Lower Shabelle region also killed at least 18 soldiers and 21 fighters.
In December 2006, al-Shabab began fighting to topple the various configurations of the country’s former Transitional Federal Government (TFG).
In the process, al-Shabab fought the Ethiopian forces that had invaded Somalia on a so-called mission to prop up the TFG besides turning their weapons on the African Union Mission in Somalia and TFG troops.
Somalia did not have an effective central government from 1991, when warlords overthrew former dictator Mohamed Siad Barre. On August 20, the Federal Government of Somalia took over from the TFG.