Al-Shabaab

President Trump has signed off on a proposal which allows the U.S. Africa Command to launch its own offensive airstrikes against militants in Somalia. The move extends authority to launch strikes down the chain of command to the regional military commander. In the Obama administration, authorization for such uses of force resided solely in the […]

MOGADISHU, Somalia — A large explosion ripped through a busy market here on Sunday, killing at least 30 people and exposing the grave security challenges that Somalia’s new president faces. Somali security officials said the bomb had been packed into a truck that a suicide bomber drove into the Kawo Godey market, near the center […]

The Islamist group al Shabaab said on Friday its fighters killed dozens of Kenyan troops when they attacked a remote military base in Somalia on Thursday, a claim the Kenyan army denied. A spokesman for al Shabaab, which often launches attacks on the African troops fighting with the African Union’s AMISOM force, said its fighters […]

ARABISKA FORWARD OPERATING BASE, Somalia — It was 9:30 a.m., in a desolate corner of Somalia, and Lt. Cpl. Juliet Uwimana was taking her tank for a test drive. She and the rest of Uganda’s Battle Group 18 had been in the war-torn Lower Shabelle region for only a week, but already the battle group […]

Two explosions killed at least nine people in northeastern Nigeria on Saturday. The bombs were detonated by suspected suicide bombers linked to extremist group Boko Haram. NPR’s Ofeibea Quist-Arcton told our Newscast desk that “the two blasts came 30 minutes and about a mile apart in the Maiduguri area.” She said: A Nigerian military spokesman […]

A suspected member of al Shabaab has been shot and killed in front of the US Embassy in Kenya. The man was reportedly killed after tried to attack the guards with a knife. The US Embassy confirmed the attack and stated that no US personnel were injured. Update: According to AP, the man did stab a police officer […]

Al Shabaab detonated a bomb at a hotel in Mandera, a city in northern Kenya, killing 12 people and injuring several others. The bomb was detonated at 3 am while the guests were asleep and the majority of them died as a result of a portion of the building collapsing. Those that were not killed […]

Islamist militant group al Shabaab on Sunday seized control of yet another town in central Somalia after it was abandoned by African Union Peacekeepers, a militant spokesman and a local official said, the third to fall to insurgents this month. On Sunday, an Ethiopian contingent abandoned the town of Halgan in the Hiran region, allowing […]

The vehicle breached the barricaded checkpoint and exchanged gunfire with the security forces prior to detonating the bomb. Some politicians and journalists are reported to be among the 10 injured.

“Somali security officials said a suicide bomber had survived the blast and was taken into custody and that two militants had been killed.”

Islamist al Shabaab, which has carried out a series of deadly attacks in the Horn of Africa country as it seeks to topple the Western-backed government, claimed responsibility for the bombings.

Al-Shabaab leader, Abu Ubeida is suspected to be either killed or captured during the operation. Three of his deputies including the spokesman of the group, Abu Mus’ab and another identified as Abu Omar were among those killed.