Saturday January 8, 2022
At least two military personnel were killed and nine others wounded in a bomb blast targeting a military convoy in central Somalia on Friday, officials said.
A military official in the region's provincial capital Dhusamareb told Anadolu Agency over the phone that the military convoy was hit by a landmine while traveling between the town of Guriel and Dhusamareb, the administrative capital of Galmudug State.
"The military convoy belonged to Danab commandos, and we understand the attack was an improvised explosive device (IED) planted near the road, killing soldiers," the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to speak to the media.
Mohamed Deeq Abdi, a local journalist, told Anadolu Agency that nine wounded soldiers were admitted to a hospital in Dhusamareb.
Sources in the hospital told Anadolu Agency that four of the wounded soldiers sustained serious injuries.
The al-Qaeda-affiliated terrorist group al-Shabaab claimed responsibility for the attack, claiming 15 soldiers were killed or injured.
Separately, on Friday, Galmudug regional soldiers repulsed an al-Shabaab attack on the town of Bahdo in the same region.
Somali national TV reported that 17 terrorists were killed in the retaliatory attack, citing military commanders as saying.
\Somali military kills 5 al-Shabaab operatives
Separately, the Somali national army announced on Friday that it carried out a military operation against al-Shabaab terrorists, killing at least five "top operators."
The operation, which took place near Gamboole in the Middle Shabelle region, was undertaken by the country's elite commandos, called locally Danab (the lightning).
"Gambole is one of al-Shabaab's strongholds in the Middle Shabelle region. A heavy gunfight erupted during the operation, but our commandos killed many al-Shabaab terrorists, including five senior commanders," a military official in the region told Anadolu Agency over the phone.
Col. Ahmed Abdullahi Nur, commander of the 16th Danab Commandos, also confirmed the operation and the killing of al-Shabaab operatives.
Nur said operations against the terrorist group, which has been fighting against the Somali government and African Union Mission to Somalia (AMISOM) forces since 2007, will continue until all territories in the Middle Shabelle region are back under government control.