In this photo of Thursaday, Oct.21, 2010, Al-Shabaab fighters display weopons as they conduct military exercises in northern Mogadishu, Somalia A failed offensive by Somalia's strongest insurgent group has left at least 20 people dead as the Islamist group attempted to recapture a district in southwestern Somalia from government forces, an official and a witness said Friday. The attempt by al-Shabab, an al-Qaida-linked Somali militia, to win back a district near Kenya's border left 12 people injured, said local resident Osman Gelle. Gelle said the violence, which started Thursday afternoon, was the worst he had seen in more than a year. Somali government forces took over the Beled-Hawa district last Sunday in an offensive launched to take back areas held by militants. Al-Shabab militants took control of the area in Jan. 2009 after Ethiopian troops, who had entered to support Somalia's transitional government, withdrew from Somalia. The militia group briefly lost control of the town in Aug. 2009 to Ahlu Sunna Waljamea, a moderate Islamist group allied to the government.
(AP Photo/Mohamed Sheikh Nor)
A suicide bomber connected to Al-Shabab has driven a vehicle loaded with explosives into an African Union Military Base in central Somalia.
According to a Somali security official, Tuesday’s attack in Beledweyne has been claimed by the Somali armed group Al-Shabab.
The suicide attack was said to have been targeted at the Djiboutian Military Base in western Beledweyne,”
A military offensive launched in 2014 by AU forces and the Somali Army pushed Al-Shabab out of major strategic centres.
Somalia has been embroiled in conflict and lawlessness since the early 1990s following the toppling of Mohamed Siad Barre.
