Somali forces, backed by US air support, strike Al-Shabaab in central region
MOGADISHU — Somali security forces, with support from the United States Africa Command, say they killed at least 12 fighters from the militant group Al-Shabaab in a planned operation this week in central Somalia — a raid officials cast as a tactical victory but one that also lays bare the persistent challenges facing the fragile federal government.
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The operation took place in the Ceel-dhiiqo Weyne area of Galgaduud, a windswept region that has long been contested by the jihadist network. Somali forces, coordinating ground action with US air surveillance and strikes, also said they struck a training facility used by the group where more than 400 recruits had been assembling. Thirteen suspected fighters were wounded and detained for questioning, authorities said.
What officials are saying
Somali security officials described the raid as “successful,” but did not immediately release the names of the senior Al-Shabaab commanders they said were killed. A statement from security teams said remaining militants fled toward nearby Ceelbuur, and that follow-up operations were underway to track them down.
“This operation exposed gaps in Al-Shabaab’s defensive posture and denied them a key training site,” a Somali security official told reporters on condition of anonymity. “We will continue to pressure them across the regions where they operate.” Officials credited US Africa Command (AFRICOM) with providing air assets and surveillance that helped shape the ground assault.
On the ground
Residents in and around Galgaduud have become accustomed to mobile operations and sudden strikes in recent years. Central Somalia’s thinly governed districts provide the kind of terrain that allowed Al-Shabaab to entrench itself after it was pushed out of urban centers a decade ago: remote villages, sparse roads, and families living off pastoralism and subsistence farming.
For many locals, the strike will be judged as much by whether it reduces insecurity and improves daily life as by how many militants were killed. The federal government, propped up by the United Nations and African Union forces, faces the twin tests of denying Al-Shabaab territory and also building governance structures that can prevent the insurgency from returning.
Why this matters beyond one raid
Since emerging as a local insurgency in the mid-2000s, Al-Shabaab has evolved into one of East Africa’s most resilient militant networks. Although alarmingly weakened compared with its peak, the group still conducts suicide bombings, ambushes and assassinations across Somalia and has staged high-profile attacks in neighboring countries. It remains affiliated with al-Qaida and continues to seek to undermine the UN-backed federal government in Mogadishu.
The recent operation illustrates two wider trends: the continued reliance of Somali forces on international airpower and intelligence, and the group’s persistent ability to regenerate despite battlefield setbacks. The United States has, over the past decade, largely shifted to a partner-focused model in Somalia — providing intelligence, limited airstrikes and training rather than large-scale troop deployments — a posture that both stretches Somali forces and raises questions about how to sustain pressure over the long term.
“Kinetic strikes degrade capability in the short term,” said a counterterrorism analyst who follows the Horn of Africa. “But without governance gains — security, services, reconciliation — the conditions that breed recruitment remain.”
Regional implications and the risk of retaliation
As Somali forces step up operations in central regions such as Galgaduud, there are renewed concerns about possible reprisals. Al-Shabaab has a record of retaliating against government targets and civilians perceived as collaborators. Displacement, the targeting of clan elders, and restrictions on humanitarian access are recurrent consequences of intensified campaigns.
The African Union Transition Mission in Somalia (ATMIS) — successor to the long-standing AMISOM mission — continues to work alongside Somali forces, though donor fatigue and shifts in international priorities increasingly limit forces and resources on the ground. The combination of international air support and local ground initiatives is the prevailing model, but it is one that depends heavily on sustained political will and funding.
What comes next?
Somali authorities said they will pursue fighters who fled toward Ceelbuur, but the deeper question is whether operations like this can translate into enduring gains for citizens who have endured decades of conflict. Can central and southern districts be cleared and then held by locally legitimate administrations that provide security and services? Who will pay for reconstruction and return of displaced families? And critically, how will Somalia manage the balance between foreign military assistance and its own fragile sovereignty?
For residents of places like Galgaduud, the answers — and the daily realities — are immediate. A raid can remove a commander and disrupt a training camp, but it does not, on its own, plant the institutions that make communities resilient to extremist exploitation. Without such investments, the cycle of attack, reaction and regrouping is likely to continue.
As Somalia’s government touts the tactical success, the operation underscores a familiar paradox of counterinsurgency: military victories on the battlefield do not always translate into political stability, and the long arc of peace requires more than a series of strikes.
By Ali Musa
Axadle Times international–Monitoring.
