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In Puntland State’s Cal-Miskaad, a puncture wound to ISIS — and a reminder of unfinished war BOSASO, Somalia — For nearly a year, Puntland State’s counterterrorism forces have methodically pushed into the mazelike caves and dry riverbeds of the Cal‑Miskaad Mountains, chipping away at an ISIS presence that once projected violence across Somalia’s northeastern corridor. This weekend’s operation — which local commanders say captured two key spring sites and netted a foreign fighter — is being framed in Puntland State as proof…

Libya’s offshore revival: Eni and the NOC return after a five‑year pause — but stability remains the real prize Libya’s state oil company announced this weekend that seismic surveys and geological work have resumed in several northwestern offshore blocks, marking the first time exploration operations by Italy’s Eni have been active in those waters in more than five years. The move, NOC officials said, follows technical and environmental assessments and is presented as part of a broader plan to “increase production capacity…

AU condemns Mogadishu prison assault as Somali forces end six-hour siege NAIROBI — The African Union on Sunday condemned a deadly assault on a high-security detention facility in Mogadishu, as Somali authorities said they had killed all seven attackers after a six-hour siege that rattled a capital trying to return to normal life. The attack targeted Godka Jilacow — a notorious detention site long linked to Somalia’s intelligence service and used to hold al-Shabaab suspects — on a morning when Mogadishu’s streets had been…

Mogadishu detention centre attacked in bold Al-Shabaab raid, seven assailants killed MOGADISHU — In a striking breach of Somalia’s security heartland, Al-Shabaab fighters launched a brazen attack late Saturday on Godka Jilacow, a high-security detention facility run by the National Intelligence and Security Agency (NISA) in central Mogadishu. The siege lasted through the night and into Sunday morning before security forces said they had neutralised the assailants. How the raid unfolded Residents and officials described a…

Ethiopia opens first phase of Ogaden LNG project, pivoting from exports to power its own growth CALUB, Somali Region — Under a rinsed-blue sky and a brisk Ogaden wind, Ethiopia on Thursday inaugurated the first phase of its long-delayed liquefied natural gas project, a move that signals a decisive turn inward: from chasing export windfalls to fueling its own power grid, factories, and farms. Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed stood before an array of valves and silvered pipes at the Calub gas field and called the Ogaden LNG project…

Mohamud’s Visit to Kismayo: A Fragile Gesture Toward Reconciliation KISMAYO, Somalia — When Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud travels to Kismayo this weekend for talks with Jubaland’s leader Ahmed “Madobe” Mohamed, he will be stepping into a political landscape that has been scarred by years of public acrimony, private deals and military showdowns. The trip — brokered quietly by Nairobi and welcomed, cautiously, by regional capitals — is less a triumph than a test of whether local rivals can move from brinkmanship to…

Al‑Shabaab’s War Chest: How a Militant Tax System Fuels a Comeback in Somalia A militant economy hiding in plain sight The hardest thing to see in Somalia’s long war is often the most obvious: the receipts. A new assessment by the Combating Terrorism Center at West Point says al‑Shabaab, al‑Qaida’s Somali affiliate, is now the network’s financial powerhouse—pulling in an estimated $100 million to $200 million a year. That money isn’t just paying for bullets. It’s rebuilding a parallel state. The report, The Global State…

UK–Somalia trade has jumped. Now comes the hard part: turning a one-way surge into a two-way partnership It’s not often that trade data between two countries separated by nearly 7,000 kilometers makes you sit up. But the United Kingdom’s latest figures with Somalia do just that. In the four quarters to the end of Q1 2025, total trade in goods and services reached £72 million—up 75.6% from a year earlier, according to a UK Department for Business and Trade factsheet released on September 19, 2025. On the face of it, that’s a…

Somali and AU Forces Secure Awdheegle in Push to Root Out al‑Shabab MOGADISHU — Somali National Army troops, backed by Ugandan contingents operating under the African Union Transition Mission in Somalia (ATMIS), announced on Saturday that they have taken full control of Awdheegle, a strategic town in the Lower Shabelle region, as part of a wider offensive aimed at dislodging al‑Shabab militants. The operation, called “Silent Storm,” has been under way for days across swathes of the fertile Lower Shabelle, where farmers,…

Suicide Blast and Gunfire Rock Mogadishu’s Most Secure Prison, Hours After Government Claims Citywide Gains Mogadishu — A bold and deadly assault hit one of Somalia’s most fortified sites on Saturday afternoon, when suspected al-Shabaab militants stormed Godka Jilacow, the high-security prison run by the National Intelligence and Security Agency (NISA). The attack began with a suicide bombing at the facility’s perimeter, followed by sustained gunfire as security forces fought to secure the compound. Initial reports…