Friday September 2, 2022
The Star. File Photo/ STEPHEN ASTARIKO
Mogadishu (HOL) - Somali government said that Al Shabaab militants increased their destruction of drinking wells and communication equipment in parts of rural Somalia under its control.
According to a press release issued by the government on Thursday, militants destroyed wells in the villages of Maarsa-Mage, Qayib, Dhumodole, Ada-Kibir, Dhisaq-Shurufle, and Ali Wayd in the Galguduud region of Galmudug state, displacing poor residents.
The attack occurred shortly before midnight on Wednesday in the Adakibir area of the Adado district.
The government also stated that communications in those villages were disrupted because the Al-Shabaab group destroyed the importat infrastructure.
"The terrorists want to brutally punish civilians after the Somali National Army began offensive operations with the help of the local residents. We will eliminate militants from this part of the country," the statement said.
Al-Shabaab fighters have already blown up water wells in approximately ten areas of the Hiiraan region's Matabaan and Mahaas districts, as well as burned down houses in approximately seven locations in the Mahaas district.
The federal government recently spent about $150,000 to repair wells destroyed by Al-Shabaab in small villages and towns throughout the Hiiraan region.
The Galgadud and Hiiraan regions have been particularly hard hit by the drought. Aid workers are concerned that a lack of accessible drinking water will exacerbate residents' already precarious living conditions.
The SNA launched a military offensive against Al Shabaab earlier this summer to take back villages in central Somalia.