Al-Shabaab Broadens Assassination Efforts with Fatal Attacks in Afgoye, Jowhar, and Mogadishu

In the town of Afgoye, about 30 kilometers from Mogadishu, a local entrepreneur met a tragic fate at the hands of alleged Al-Shabaab operatives come nightfall.

Their reason remains a puzzle.

Pressing north to Jowhar, roughly 90 kilometers away, a police officer fell victim soon after he had offered his evening prayers near his usual prayer spot, shared the townsfolk.

These killings, occurring outside Mogadishu, signify Al-Shabaab’s growing influence, with their crosshairs now focusing on smaller Somali towns.

Back in Mogadishu, the extremist faction relentlessly pursued its campaign of terror against entrepreneurs, adding three more victims to their list on Monday in the Daaru Salam area.

Onlookers recounted how gunmen stormed a shop adjacent to Ahmed Gurey School, executing three shopkeepers and then vanishing without a trace.

“The Al-Shabaab attackers brandished pistols,” a local narrated under the shield of anonymity. “They took down the businessmen right inside their establishment.” The Somali police remain tight-lipped on this matter.

Following close on the heels of violence last Wednesday in Hodan, where two young business folks were slain while two others sustained injuries in a matching modus operandi.

The past fortnight has seen eight merchants taken down, spotlighting Al-Shabaab’s unyielding menace against business folk who stand firm against the faction’s prohibition on CCTV— a security measure enforced by the government in bustling districts.

Officials push for the installation of surveillance, threatening fines or jail time for the non-compliant, as Al-Shabaab vows lethal vengeance against those who dares to comply.

The ensuing chaos spreads into areas affecting free press, evidenced by national intelligence detaining two journalists from Himilo TV who were chronicling Monday’s Mogadishu drama—an emblematic risk for media covering Al-Shabaab’s maneuvers in the city.

This latest onslaught of eliminations, coupled with a widening map of mayhem, illustrates Al-Shabaab’s dogged pursuit to subvert security efforts and induce dread across various Somali communities.