Somalia

Iclal TuranSaturday March 28, 2026 US military hardware worth billions of dollars has been damaged or destroyed since the US-Israeli war on Iran began, with Iranian missile and drone attacks responsible for much of the destruction, according to a Wall Street Journal report published Friday. In the opening three weeks of fighting, losses are estimated at between $1.4 billion and $2.9 billion, Elaine McCusker, a former Pentagon budget official now with the American Enterprise Institute, told the newspaper. Among the incidents…

Julian Borger and Aram Roston in WashingtonSaturday March 28, 2026 Mohammed bin Salman has urged Trump not to cut short war, according to New York Times report confirmed by a Saudi intelligence source. Photograph: AP Saudi Arabia has called on the United States to intensify its strikes on Iran, a Saudi intelligence source has confirmed, as Riyadh weighs whether to enter the conflict itself. The source backed a New York Times account saying Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the kingdom’s de facto ruler, had pressed Donald…

Iran-linked hackers have breached FBI Director Kash Patel’s personal email account, releasing private photographs and a trove of messages online, according to the hackers and the FBI, prompting renewed concern about cyberattacks targeting senior U.S. officials. In a post on their website on Friday, a group calling itself Handala Hack Team declared that Patel “will now find his name among the list of successfully hacked victims.” The hackers posted a series of personal images showing the FBI director sniffing and smoking…

Saturday March 28, 2026 BAIDOA (AX) — Southwest State lawmakers convened in Baidoa on Saturday and re-elected Dr. Ali Said Fiqi as Speaker of the regional parliament, underscoring a fresh attempt to restore stability within the state’s political leadership. The electoral commission supervising the vote said Dr. Fiqi won with 67 votes, defeating Diini Sheikh Hassan, who received 11. Commission officials reported that two ballots were rejected as invalid. In total, 80 members of parliament took part in the election. After the…

Saturday March 28, 2026 Baidoa (AX) — Southwest State President Abdiaziz Hassan Mohamed Laftagareen has won re-election for a further five-year term after voters went to the polls on Saturday in Baidoa, the interim administrative capital of the region. Under the supervision of the electoral commission, Laftagareen received 66 votes, narrowly but decisively beating his challenger, Abdullahi Haji Hassan, who secured 13 votes. The vote takes place as political tensions continue to mount between the Southwest administration and…

Mohamed DhaysaneSaturday March 28, 2026 Somali forces, backed by international partners, carried out coordinated strikes on Thursday that killed more than 42 al-Shabaab fighters, including two senior figures, while leaving several others injured across operations in Middle Juba and Lower Shabelle, officials said. In one of the joint actions, the National Intelligence and Security Agency (NISA) said it killed Abdihamid Ali Abdullahi Macalin, an al-Qaeda-linked al-Shabaab commander responsible for handling international…

In southern Somalia’s Ladan camp, a child’s cry can be heard—but for the most malnourished youngsters, even sound can be out of reach. Mothers there are focused on a single question: whether their children will survive. At the Ladan camp, on the outskirts of the town of Dollow, families who have fled drought-stricken areas arrive with little more than their children. Their farms and livestock were wiped out after four failed rainy seasons, leaving displaced people to seek shelter in crowded conditions where hope is measured…

MOGADISHU — Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud has launched a forceful defense of one-person, one-vote elections, rejecting calls for a return to indirect voting and arguing that the country has already moved past the old approach. Speaking to the nation, Hassan Sheikh Mohamud said past understandings have already laid out the electoral roadmap, including how committees should be formed and what rules should govern the process. He added that some politicians have chosen to step away from commitments they signed. “If you…

The gentle cry of a child resonates with unexpected hope in the overcrowded Ladan displacement camp in southern Somalia, a place where malnourished children often lack the strength to express distress. For the mothers residing here, the primary focus is survival, overshadowing global events like the Middle East conflict or the complexities of UNICEF's relief logistics. These families have fled the unforgiving drought devastating the Horn of Africa. Four consecutive failed rainy seasons have left their farmlands barren…

Saturday March 28, 2026 Mogadishu (AX) - Three senior officers of Uganda People’s Defence Forces (UPDF) will face a Ugandan military court after prosecutors alleged misconduct connected to the disappearance of a military aircraft during operations in Somalia, according to officials. The General Court Martial at Makindye, Kampala, on Tuesday formally charged Col. George Buga Andruca, Maj. Benjamin Kashumbusha, and Lt. Henry Gygenda with one count of wrongful acts tied to the loss of an aircraft. Each of the officers entered…