MOGADISHU – Four Al Shabaab fighters have been killed on Tuesday in an operation carried out by Somali army forces near Mogadishu.
The operation was conducted at Hawo-Abdi area near the capital, leaving 4 militants dead, according to senior government official, Ali Nor Mohamed.
Mohamed said that Somali military forces launched a dawn attack on Al Shabaab targets, adding that four armed fighters were killed during the operation.
“We killed 4 militants earlier on Tuesday. The operation was carried out when the militants killed two renowned elders and a soldier at Hawo Abdi area near Mogadishu”, he said.
He says AK-47 assault rifles, dozens of rounds of ammunition, grenades and other explosives had been confiscated after the onslaught by Somali military forces.
“Our brave military soldiers will never tolerate callous and senseless killings against civilians which are often carried out by armed fighters belonging to Al Shabaab”, Mohamed said.
There was no response from Somali-based group of Al Shabaab over the military claims.
The Shabab fighters fled fixed positions in Mogadishu 2011 and have since lost most large towns to a 22,000-strong UN-backed African Union force, fighting alongside government soldiers.
But the group’s fighters still hold sway in areas of the rural hinterland, from which they regularly launch attack
