A senior member of the Danab special forces was killed Friday in an attack by the Al Shabaab terrorist group on a base in the Somali town of Galcad, north of the capital, Mogadishu.
The attack began with a car bombing and killed several people, including Hassan Mohamed Osman, deputy commander of the U.S.-trained Danab force, according to Somali Radio Shabelle.
Al Shabaab claimed to have taken control of the military base and to have killed dozens of soldiers during the assault, although the Somali authorities have not yet commented on what happened.
The terrorist group has launched several attacks in recent weeks in response to the reinforcement of offensives by Mogadishu. Somali President Hassan Shaykh Mohamud said on Wednesday that the «second phase» of these operations will be launched soon.
Somalia has in recent months stepped up offensives against Al Shabaab with the support of local clans and militias as part of a series of decisions taken by the president, who pledged upon taking office to put the fight against terrorism at the center of his efforts to stabilize the African country.
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)
