Somali government: 136 Al-Shabaab fighters were killed in a military operation in the south of the country

Today, Sunday, the Somali authorities announced the killing of 136 members of the Al-Shabaab movement, including 3 field commanders, in a military operation in the lower Shabelle region, in the south of the country.

This came in a press conference held by the Somali Deputy Minister of Information, Abd al-Rahman Yusuf, in the capital, Mogadishu, to talk about the military operation against the movement.

Youssef said that the Somali army, in cooperation with the Somali intelligence and "international allies," carried out a military operation targeting a densely forested area between the villages of Tawakkul and Gerz Gerida in the Lower Shabelle region of southwestern Somalia.

The minister did not specify who he meant by international allies, but the Somali army had already launched, in July 2022, a military operation to liberate the center of the country from the movement's elements, with air support carried out by the US military command in Africa, "AFRICOM".

Youssef added that the area that was attacked included hundreds of al-Shabaab members, who were preparing to carry out "terrorist" attacks against government military centers in the region, according to him.

The deputy minister stated that the operation, which is still continuing today, has caused, according to the preliminary toll, the killing of 136 Al-Shabaab members and the injury of 89 others with varying degrees of injury.

Youssef pointed out that among the dead as a result of the military operation were 3 field commanders.

During the military operation, the army also managed to destroy weapons caches and explosive military vehicles, as well as trenches in which al-Shabaab members were hiding.

Since the middle of last year, government forces, in cooperation with armed clans, have been carrying out military operations against Al-Shabab, and have announced the killing of hundreds of the movement's members and the restoration of control over many strategic areas.

Since 2007, the youth movement has been fighting the federal government supported by the international community, and after its fighters were expelled from the country's main cities between 2011 and 2012, it was concentrated in vast rural areas.

The movement carries out attacks from time to time against Somali military and government headquarters, some of which reached the capital, Mogadishu, killing dozens.