Mogadishu Mayor in Critical Condition After Attack in Somalia
A suicide bomber attacked a high-level security meeting at the Mogadishu mayor’s office yesterday, wounding the mayor and killing at least six people. The militant group al-Shabab claimed responsibility for the attack and said its target was a UN envoy who had visited the office earlier that day (New York Times)
Al-Shabab Kills Seventeen in Somalia
An al-Shabab bombing near Mogadishu’s airport today killed seventeen people and wounded twenty-eight others (Reuters)
Al-Shabab Attack on Somali Hotel Kills Twenty-Six
In Mogadishu, a gun attack and car bomb claimed by al-Shabab killed twenty-six people. Among those killed was Hodan Nalayeh, a prominent Canadian-Somali journalist (New York Times)
In Somalia, Al-Shabab Executes Eighteen
In a series of executions, al-Shabab killed eighteen people by firing squad. The executions come amidst increasing pressure from U.S. airstrikes (Voice of America)
Kenyan Forces Kill Three al-Shabab Fighters
After al-Shabab’s weekend attack on a police outpost close to Somalia’s border, Kenya’s security forces killed three suspected al-Shabab militants (Reuters)
U.S. Air Strikes Target Al-Shabab
U.S. Africa Command said yesterday that two air strikes in southern Somalia targeting al-Shabab killed two militants and caused no civilian casualties (U.S. Africa Command)
U.S. Air Strike Kills Two Islamic State Fighters in Somalia
U.S. Africa Command said that a targeted air strike in northern Somalia yesterday killed two fighters affiliated with the Islamic State’s Somalia branch; the strike marks the fifth targeting Islamic State fighters in Somalia since April 14 (U.S. Africa Command)
Thirteen Reported Killed in U.S. Strike in Somalia
U.S. Africa Command said a Wednesday air strike that targeted an encampment of the Islamic State in Somalia in the Golis Mountains killed thirteen suspected militants. It said it assessed that no civilians were killed or injured (U.S. Africa Command)
U.S. Extends Mission in Somalia
President Donald J. Trump signed an executive order extending a national emergency concerning Somalia for another year last week, enabling the U.S. military to continue carrying out strikes targeting al-Qaeda–linked al-Shabab militants there. A defense official said that an ongoing U.S. Special Forces mission to train elite units of Somali troops to battle militants could take an additional seven years to complete (CNN)
Separately, the deputy leader of the Islamic State’s Somalia branch was killed in a U.S. air strike yesterday (Reuters)
United States Resumes Strikes in Somalia
The U.S. Africa Command said it carried out an air strike in southwest Somalia earlier this week that killed one suspected militant, the first strike since Amnesty International accused the United States of failing to report civilian deaths from its strikes in the country (United States Africa Command)
Somalia Foils Al-Shabab Attack
Somali officials said today that the military had seized a tanker truck loaded with explosives in a town southwest of the capital, Mogadishu, during an offensive against al-Shabab, calling the truck bomb one of the largest bombs ever made by militant group (Garowe Online)
Al-Shabab Attack on Somali Ministry Kills Fifteen
This weekend, Al-Shabab militants clashed with Somalia’s security forces after the group detonated a car bomb near the country’s intelligence agency in the capital, Mogadishu. The attack targeted Somalia’s ministry offices, leaving fifteen people dead including the country’s deputy labor minister (Al Jazeera)
Rights Group Accuses U.S. of Civilian Deaths in Somalia
In a new report, Amnesty International said it has credible evidence that at least fourteen civilians were killed in just five of the more than one hundred air strikes carried out by the United States in Somalia over the past two years (Amnesty International)
U.S. Africa Command denied the allegations and said it uses intelligence methods not available to nonmilitary organizations following strikes to probe for possible civilian deaths (Voice of America)
U.S. Conducts Third Somalia Strike in a Week
U.S. Africa Command said the Wednesday air strike in the Lower Juba region was carried out in collective self-defense as militants shot at Somali forces on the ground. It said three suspected al-Shabab militants were killed. The United States has ramped up strikes in Somalia in recent months, after a record forty-seven strikes there last year (Voice of America)
Four Killed in Al-Shabab Car Bombing Near Presidential Palace
Al-Shabab claimed responsibility for a car bomb attack in central Mogadishu, killing four people at a restaurant near a security checkpoint close to Somalia’s presidential palace (Agence France-Presse)
Al-Shabab Attack in Somalia Kills Nearly Thirty
Al-Shabab militants set off a suicide car bomb outside of a hotel in Somalia’s capital, Mogadishu, yesterday morning, before taking over a nearby building and engaging in a day-long gun battle with Somali security forces. Police said that three militants had been killed and the area secured late yesterday, and that at least twenty-nine civilians were killed in the attack (Reuters)
U.S. Air Strikes Kill Thirty-Five Militants in Somalia
U.S. Africa Command said it carried out air strikes targeting al-Shabab in the central region of Hiran on Sunday that killed thirty-five suspected militants. It reported no civilians were believed to have been hurt or killed (U.S. Africa Command)
Nine Civilians Killed in Recent Al-Shabab Attack
Somali officials reported nine civilian deaths resulting from an al-Shabab attack in a suburb of Mogadishu (Voice of America)
U.S. Air Strike Kills Twelve Al-Shabab Militants
U.S. Africa Command reported today that twelve al-Shabab militants were killed in two air strikes outside Somalia’s capital, Mogadishu, on Monday (Long War Journal)
U.S. Air Strike Kills Eight Al-Shabab Militants
The U.S. military reported that an air strike on Friday killed eight al-Shabab militants in southern Somalia near the port city of Kismayo (Associated Press)
AFRICOM Head Says Air Strikes Won’t Defeat Al-Shabab
The head of the U.S. Africa Command, speaking to U.S. lawmakers yesterday, said U.S. air strikes in Somalia “are not going to defeat al-Shabab” and that the Somali national army must grow and take responsibility for its own security (Voice of America)
Al-Shabab Claims Responsibility for Attack in Somalia
Al-Shabab claimed responsibility for an attack in Somalia’s semiautonomous Puntland region, where militants disguised as fishermen killed the head of operations for the Dubai government-owned P&O Ports. Separately, at least eleven people were killed and ten inured in a suspected al-Shabab car bombing that took place in Mogadishu (Reuters)
U.S. Reports Two Dozen Killed in Somalia Strike
U.S. Africa Command said twenty-four suspected al-Shabab militants were killed in the January 30 air strike against a “terrorist encampment” in Somalia’s Hiran Region. It reported no civilians were killed or injured in the strike (U.S. Africa Command)
U.S. Strikes Al-Shabab in Somalia
On Saturday the United States killed an estimated fifty-two al-Shabab militants in an airstrike in the Middle Juba Region of Somalia (U.S. Africa Command)
The strike came a day after al-Shabab ambushed an Ethiopian military convoy (Associated Press)
Rescuers Search for Missing in Aftermath of Kenya Attack
The Kenya Red Cross reported that dozens of people who were reported missing following Tuesday’s attack at an upscale hotel complex in Nairobi have all been accounted for (Al Jazeera)
The Somalia-based militant group al-Shabab said the attack, in which twenty-one people were killed, was in response to U.S. President Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital (Middle East Eye)