19 al Shabaab terrorists killed by Somali forces
During the operation, vehicles and weapons which belonged to the militant group have been destroyed.
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In this undated photo, members of al Shabab group (AFP)
A joint operation by the National Intelligence and Security Agency (NISA) alongside the international partners in Mulo Mohamed Abdalla village under Awdhegle district in the lower Shabelle region led to the killing of 19 al Shabaab terrorists.
An army official was quoted by SONNA as saying that the security forces destroyed vehicles and weapons which belong to the militant group.
This comes just one day after the night siege of a hotel in the Somali capital, Mogadishu, has ended.
Police later confirmed that six civilians were killed and ten were wounded in the siege.
The terrorist al Shabaab group, which has been waging an insurgency against the federal government for more than 15 years, claimed responsibility for the attack.
While the group has been driven out of Somalia's main towns and cities, it retains power in large parts of rural areas and continues to carry out attacks against security and civilian targets, including in the capital.
Hotels have often been targeted in the past as they tend to host high-ranking Somali and foreign officials, as per AFP.
On 26 May, the African Union Transition Mission in Somalia (ATMIS) said militants from al Shabaab group attacked its military base in the country's southwest.
At the time, the soldiers were able to destroy the militants' weapons and force them to retreat with reinforcements from the ATMIS aviation unit and allies, according to the mission, which added that it remains committed to counter-terrorism and will continue to work with the Somali government and international partners to secure the country from militant groups.
Later in the day, the Uganda People's Defence Force (UPDF) announced that a Ugandan contingent had been attacked by militants at an ATMIS base. "There was an early morning attack on our troops in bulo-marer-Somalia by elements of al Shabaab. We are cross-checking with African Union Transition Mission in Somalia headquarters for more details," the UPDF tweeted.
Al Shabaab, the Al-Qaeda-linked group, has been waging an insurgency against the central government for more than a decade. It managed to be active in parts of Somalia and other countries of the Horn of Africa, including Kenya, Ethiopia, and Djibouti. The African Union Transition Mission in Somalia (ATMIS) has amped up military operations against the terrorist organization.
