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Friday March 27, 2026 Mogadishu (AX) - A fierce clash in southern Somalia left more than 40 al-Shabab militants dead after the group tried to claw back control of a recently captured town, officials said Thursday. The African Union Support and Stabilisation Mission in Somalia (AUSSOM), said in a statement that the fighting erupted in Mubarak, a strategic town in the Lower Shabelle region that joint Somali National Armed Forces and African Union troops seized earlier this month. According to AUSSOM, the militants struck a…

Saturday March 21, 2026 Mogadishu (AX) — Marking Eid al-Fitr on Friday, Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud prayed alongside Somali Armed Forces units in Gendershe, the coastal Lower Shabelle town recently wrested back from al-Shabab. He was accompanied by the National Intelligence and Security Agency (NISA) director, top cabinet members, the Somali National Army commander and the national police chief, sharing the holiday with frontline soldiers. In remarks after the prayer, Hassan Sheikh said his government will move…

SHALANBOOD, Somalia — The sand moves like a tide here, swallowing lanes, schools and low-slung homes on the edge of the Indian Ocean. Among the dunes, hundreds of farming families who fled Lower Shabelle’s contested villages are piecing together life in makeshift shelters, rationing water by the cup as fighting and failed rains erase the certainty of the past. Families from Mushani, Garilow and Barire streamed into the outskirts of Shalanbood in November after government forces and African Union troops clashed with Al-Shabab…

Somalia says NISA raids kill more than 40 Al-Shabaab militants in Hiiraan, Lower Shabelle MOGADISHU, Somalia — Somalia’s National Intelligence and Security Agency (NISA), working with international partners, said Saturday it killed more than 40 Al-Shabaab militants in coordinated counterterrorism operations in the central Hiiraan region and the southern Lower Shabelle region. NISA said the first raid unfolded in the Waab-Weyn and Isgoyska Madashyo-Weyn areas under Mahaas district in Hiiraan, targeting fighters the agency…

KISMAYO, Somalia — Jubaland security forces killed more than 60 al-Shabab fighters, including senior operatives, in a four-day operation targeting militant strongholds in Lower Juba, regional officials said Sunday. The offensive, centered on the Lagta Hola–Wajeer area of Badhaadhe district, struck what authorities described as the “Black Sea,” a dense, forested zone long used by the group as a staging ground for attacks. The push was led by Jubaland’s security director, Mohamed Ahmed Sabriye, known as “Basaam,” and supported…

Wednesday, Feb. 11, 2026 MOGADISHU, Somalia — Somalia’s elite Danab Special Forces, operating with Jubaland state security units, killed 14 al-Shabab fighters in a planned raid Tuesday in rural areas around Jamaame town in the country’s southern Lower Juba region, security officials said. One additional militant was wounded and several others fled as troops advanced during the coordinated operation, according to the officials. The joint force targeted suspected al-Shabab positions on the outskirts of Jamaame, a farming…

Saturday, February 7, 2026 MOGADISHU, Somalia — Somalia’s lower house of parliament has suspended 19 lawmakers for repeatedly disrupting legislative sessions, a move that underscores deepening political rifts over contentious constitutional amendments. The decision was issued in an official letter from acting speaker and second deputy speaker Abdullahi Omar Abshirow, who said the lawmakers were barred from attending several upcoming sessions after causing chaos during a sitting on Feb. 2. The letter said the members violated…

MOGADISHU, Somalia — Somalia’s National Intelligence and Security Agency said Thursday its forces killed a senior al-Shabab operative who ran the militant group’s financial extortion network in the Banadir region, which includes the capital, Mogadishu. The operative, identified as Ahmed Dhubad Xidig, also known as “Sheikh Aadan Dheere,” was killed in a targeted raid by NISA’s elite Gaashaan special forces in the Daniga Baaloow area of Lower Shabelle on Jan. 27, the agency said in a statement. According to NISA, the operation…

MOGADISHU — Somalia’s National Intelligence and Security Agency said Tuesday it killed a senior al-Shabaab commander in an airstrike on the militant group’s network in Kuunyo Barrow, a town in the Lower Shabelle region. In a statement, the agency identified the target as Abdullahi Hassan Abdi Cosoble, known as “Abdullahi Wadaad,” describing him as al-Shabaab’s chief finance officer. NISA said the operation was conducted in coordination with Somalia’s international security partners. According to NISA, Wadaad oversaw…

MOGADISHU — Somalia’s Council of Ministers on Thursday praised the national army and said more than 130 al-Shabab militants were killed during a 24-hour battle that repelled a major assault on the coastal town of Kudhaa in the Lower Juba region. Officials described the operation as a decisive security victory, saying government troops thwarted what they called a desperate attempt by the al-Qaida-linked group to seize the strategic town. Authorities said the swift response prevented civilian casualties and restored stability…