An al Shabaab attack on a military outpost in Bosaso was successfully repulsed on Saturday, Feb 7th 2015. The evening attack left several terrorists dead and others captured by Puntland’s security forces. The security forces lost a policeman while four soldiers were injured. Bosaso is a port city located in Bari region of the autonomous state of Puntland.
Al Shabaab launched the attack using four cars which approached the military post and police checkpoints from different directions before the terrorists began firing on the security forces. This sparked a shootout which lasted for three hours and the terrorist were repulsed after suffering considerable losses.
Senior security officials of Puntland have confirmed the attack; and they also accused the neighboring Somaliland of supporting Al Shabaab attacks on Puntland as a way of weakening the stable administration in the region. Al Shabaab took credit for the attack through their spokesman, Abdiaziz Abu Musab.
SIS Assessment.
SIS has assessed the situation and concluded that Al Shabaab is manipulating the existing fractious relations among autonomous Somali authorities to re-establish itself in Northern and Central Somalia as the military offensives being conducted by KDF, AMISOM and allied troops is continuing to dislodge them from their strongholds in Southern Somalia and also steadily degrading their military capabilities.
If Al Shabaab is able to re-establish itself in Northern Somalia or in any of Somalia’s autonomous regions – beyond the operational reach of KDF and AMISOM – then the current counterterrorism operation will be tempered as the set objectives of destroying Al Shabaab and preempting its re-emergence (or its evolution into a different terror entity) will not be achieved. For this reason, it is advisable that the autonomous regions share their intelligence regarding terrorists in their regions with the allied forces and also facilitate AMISOM’s efforts to destroy Al Shabaab.
