Friday September 15, 2023
Dhusamareb (HOL) - At least one Somali soldier was killed and two others wounded in a suicide attack on Friday morning in central Somali, an official said.
The Deputy Minister of Security for Galmudug regional state said that the al Shabab militants carried out a suicide car bomb attack in the frontline village of Laas-gamey in Ba’adweyn district in Mudug region, where officials led by regional President Ahmed Abdi Kariye QorQor were present.
Local reports suggest that the primary target of the attack was the regional President. However, Somali National Television reported that the security forces thwarted the attack, confirming only two soldiers were wounded.
Earlier this week, MP Mohamed Mohamud Ahmed (also known as Mohamed Yare), a member of the Galmudug Parliament, and Abdullahi Ibrahim Shaaciye, a member of the Dhusamareb Local Council, were killed in a landmine explosion in El-Garas town in the Galgadud region. On Monday, these lawmakers had travelled to the town to visit troops who had recently recaptured the village from al-Shabab.
Galmudug President Ahmed QorQor, alongside the country’s Defense Minister Abdukhadir Mohamud Nur and other regional and federal officials, have spent the past few weeks on the frontline in the Galgadud region, intensifying anti-al Shabab operations in central Somalia.
The Somali federal government has been engaged in a prolonged battle against Al-Shabaab for over a decade, with support from international partners and African Union troops. Despite making significant gains, the extremist group still maintains control over vast rural areas of the country and continues to carry out attacks in the capital, Mogadishu, as well as other regions.