The Al-Qaeda branch in Somalia, Harakat Shabaab Mujahideen (HSM)continue to conduct attacks across regions of Somalia. Though many of these claimed attacks have been low-scale attacks with minimum casualties.
That notwithstanding it’s a wake-up call for Somali intelligence community and security forces backed by allied troops to intensify operations against the insurgents besides stemming down their operations.
On Monday 5th August 2019, Somali and African Union (AU) troops successfully repelled an Al-Shabaab attack outside the capital Mogadishu.
Somali forces and allied African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) who had prior intelligence thwarted an Al-Shabaab mortar attack that targeted a Somali forces Forward Operating Base (FOB) in Elasha-biyaha locality in the outskirts of Mogadishu.
Heavily armed Al-Shabaab at dawn, Monday attempted to storm a military base manned by Somali government forces in Elasha-biyaha locality, prompting intense gunfire between the sides.
The attack follows another similar mortar shelling targeting a Kenya Defense Forces forward operating base (KDF-FOB) in Burahache and another two-mortar targeting a Kenya Defense Forces forward operating base in El-Wak recently.
There is notable increase in trend of the militants using mortar shelling and though mortar fire remains a low-scale threat to Somali and AU troops, it could morph to threat if fired by experts.
