The United Nations reported that 2,078 civilians were killed and 2,507 injured in conflict in Somalia between the start of 2016 and October of this year. The report said the militant group al-Shabab is responsible for 60 percent of the casualties (Voice of America)
Strike in Somalia Killed a Hundred Militants, U.S. Says
The U.S. military said it carried out an air strike targeting a training camp in Somalia yesterday that killed more than a hundred militants linked to the militant group al-Shabab (Voice of America)
Report: A Hundred Militants Dead in U.S., Somali Strikes
U.S. air strikes and a Somali mine-planting operation killed up to a hundred alleged members of the militant group al-Shabab over the last week (New York Times)
United States Orders Staff to Leave Mogadishu
The United States has ordered all non-essential staff to leave its Mogadishu mission in light of “specific threat information” against them (Voice of America)
Mogadishu Bans Trucks During Daytime
Somali officials imposed a daytime ban on large trucks and tankers in the capital city following a truck bombing last month that killed more than 350 people (BBC)
Somali and AMISOM Troops Prepare for Operation Against Al-Shabab
Thousands of Somali and African Union troops are gathering in two of the country’s regions for an expected mass offensive against al-Shabab militants in retaliation for an October 14 attack in the capital of Mogadishu that killed more than three hundred people (Voice of America)
Tens of Thousands Demonstrate in Somalia After Bombing
Ten of thousands protested in major Somali cities yesterday, condemning a Saturday attack that killed more than three hundred people. President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed and demonstrators denounced the militant group al-Shabab following the attack, though the group has yet to claim responsibility for it (Voice of America)
New Details Emerge in Mogadishu Bombing
Somali officials say the hometown of the man suspected of carrying out an attack last week in Mogadishu that left more than three hundred people dead was the site of an August U.S. special forces raid that killed ten civilians. Officials said the suspect defected from the army and joined al-Shabab several years ago (Guardian)
Mogadishu Bombing Death Toll Tops Three Hundred
More than three hundred people have died following twin explosions near government offices and the African Union mission in Mogadishu and in a nearby suburb on Saturday (Wall Street Journal)
France, the United Kingdom, the United States, and others have condemned the attack. Turkey said some of the wounded would be flown into the country for medical treatment (Al Jazeera)
Top Somali Defense Officials Resign
Somalia’s defense minister and military chief have both resigned, officials said. The two, who led the country’s fight against Islamist militants, cited personal reasons and gave no further explanation (Voice of America)
Al-Shabab Attack Kills Ten Somali Soldiers
Fighters from the militant group al-Shabab detonated a bomb and stormed a military base near the Somali border with Kenya, leaving at least ten soldiers and seven militants dead (Al Jazeera)
Senior Al-Shabab Commander Killed by U.S. Air Strike in Somalia
Al-Shabab confirmed that one of its senior commanders, Ali Muhammad Hussein, was killed in a U.S. air strike last month (Associated Press)
Over One Hundred Somalis Released from Ethiopian Prisons
More than one hundred Somalis released from prisons in Ethiopia arrived in Mogadishu. The inmates had been charged with various crimes, including illegal entry (Voice of America)
U.S. Military Conducts Strike Against al-Shabab in Somalia
The United States launched a strike operation on a group of al-Shabab militants in southwest Somalia. The military claimed the July 4 operation was in collective self-defense (ABC News)
Car Bomb Kills At Least Fifteen in Mogadishu
Al-Shabab claimed responsibility for an attack on a government district headquarters in Mogadishu. The suicide car bomb killed fifteen people and injured nine (Reuters)
Nineteen Dead in Somalia Militant Attack
At least nineteen people died after a suicide bomber attacked a Mogadishu hotel and al-Shabab militants took twenty people hostage in an adjacent restaurant (Al Jazeera)
Somalia, U.S. Claim to Destroy Al-Shabab Camp
Somali President Mohamed Abdullahi Farmajo said Sunday that a strike by U.S. Special Forces and international partners destroyed an alleged al-Shabab training camp near Sakow; the United States military said it believes eight militants were killed in the strike (Voice of America)
Somalia Will Show al-Shabab ‘No Mercy,’ President Says
President Mohamed Abdullahi Farmaajo said Somali troops were in “hot pursuit” of al-Shabab fighters after an attack on a military base in Puntland that left at least thirty-eight people dead (Reuters)
Al-Shabab Attacks Somali Military Base
The militant group al-Shabab attacked a military base in Somalia’s semiautonomous Puntland region. The group said it had killed sixty-one soldiers, while a local officer put the death toll at twenty (BBC)
Somalia Seeks Arms Ban Lift To Defeat Terror Group
President Mohamed Abdullahi Farmajo called for an end to the 1992 UN arms embargo on Somalia in order to fight the militant group al-Shabab, saying that the time has come for the government to have “better equipment and weapons than the terrorists” (Al Jazeera)
Somali Aid Groups Warn Against Military Offensive
The director of a consortium of humanitarian organizations working in Somalia said that being on the “verge of a famine is not a good time to start military offensive.” The statement came ahead of an international conference on Somalia to be held in London (Voice of America)
Somali Forces Kill al-Shabab Leader
Somali forces killed an al-Shabab regional leader and three associates in a raid following the death of a U.S. Navy SEAL who was killed when his aircraft came under fire (NYT)
Somali Security Forces Mistakenly Kill Minister
Security forces shot and killed Somali Public Works Minister Abdullahi Sheikh Abas near the presidential palace in Mogadishu after mistaking him for an al-Shabab militant (BBC)
U.S. Deploys Dozens of Soldiers to Mogadishu
Some forty U.S. soldiers were deployed to Somalia to train and equip African Union and Somali forces, the first presence of U.S. troops other than counterterrorism advisors since 1994 (Voice of America)
Somali President Offers Amnesty to Militants
President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed offered a sixty-day amnesty for al-Shabab militants if they turn themselves in, adding that they would receive education and employment. Mohamed said Somalia wants to “pardon the Somali youth who were misled by al-Shabab” (BBC)