Saturday November 12, 2022
Mogadishu (HOL) – Somali government issued a public warning about possible al Shabab attacks in retaliation for the group's recent loss of significant lands to government forces backed by local clan militia forces and international partners.
In a statement issued on Friday, the Ministry of Information urged the public to be vigilant and report any suspicious activity. It also advised business center owners, such as hotels and restaurants, to closely monitor the activity on their premises.
Heavily armed officers were seen on Friday patrolling the capital's streets, Mogadishu, as security was boosted outside key government offices, hotels, private buildings and shopping centres.
The Banadir Deputy Police Commissioner, Major General Ali Dhuuh Abdi Mahad Alle, reiterated the ministry's public safety warnings on Saturday.
The commander warned his Facebook followers that he received 'reliable information" that Al-Shabaab militants were planning to attack the Hiiraan towns of Beledweyne, Jalalaqsi and Buulaburte with large explosives. He ordered security forces in the region to remain extra vigilant in the coming days.
The warnings come as senior government and security officials meet in Mogadishu to discuss ongoing operations in central Somalia against Al-Shabaab.
The federal government announced weeks ago that over 1,000 al-Shabaab militants had been killed during the ongoing offensive in the central Somali regions of Hiiraan, Middle Shabelle, and Galgudud.
The al-Qaeda-affiliated armed group al Shabab has been under pressure since August, when President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud began an offensive against them, supported by the United States and clan militias known locally known as Ma'awisley, or "men with sarongs."
On October 30, the group claimed responsibility for twin car bomb attacks at Somalia's Ministry of Education in Mogadishu, killing at least 120 people and injuring 330 others.
The first explosion hit the ministry; the second blast occurred as ambulances arrived and people gathered to help the victims.
Earlier this month, Defense Ministry spokesperson Abdullahi Ali Anod said that the Somali National Army and local clan militias killed at least 100 militants as retribution for the recent twin terrorist bombings in Mogadishu that killed more than 100 people in Mogadishu.
He added that the clashes occurred in the Garas Magan and El Hareeri villages of the Hiran region in central Somalia, about 320 kilometres north of Mogadishu.
The deadly terror attack occurred at the same busy intersection where al-Shabab militants killed over 500 people five years earlier in a similar truck bomb attack.