Somali forces raid al-Shabaab, Islamic State bases

A Somali commando unit on Wednesday killed at least 15 suspected Islamist fighters in its second crackdown in two days on al-Shabaab bases. The military victories are a boost to anti-terror efforts in the region, but analysts say the war against violent extremists is far from over.

Three senior al-Shabaab commanders were among those killed in Wednesday’s raid in the central region of Galgadud, district commissioner Qadar Mohamud Ali said. The goal was to destroy the base and neutralize the militants’ ability to execute regional attacks, Ali told Voice of America.

On Tuesday night, Somali special forces cracked down on an al-Shabaab camp in the lower Shabelle town of Toratorow, about 62 milessouthwest of the capital, Mogadishu. The troops killed and captured several militants with the aid of American forces. The United States has trained a Somali government commando unit of about 500 soldiers that conducts special operations.

“Al-Shabaab has shown itself to be quite strong in this area,” said Stig Jarle Hansen, author of Al-Shabaab in Somalia: The History and Ideology of a Militant Islamist Group. “It does show the willingness of Somalia to show they are contributing to the fight against the Shabaab and willing to contribute forces to this critical area.”

Somalia has battled al-Shabaab’s insurgency since 2006. The terror group has intensified its attacks within the country and in neighboring Kenya after its government contributed forces to the fight against al-Shabaab’s insurgency.

Last week, Somali forces also raided an Islamic State (ISIS or ISIL) camp in the town of Janaale in the lower Shabelle region. ISIS claimed responsibility last month for its first attack in Somalia, where its fighters targeted African Union peacekeeping forces with an IED attack on the outskirts of Mogadishu.

“The commandos have managed to kill 12 ISIL fighters, including a top foreign jihadist and capture several others alive during the special operation,” the unit said in a written statement.

Security forces in Somalia are increasingly cracking down on terror groups, but the militants also are becoming more concentrated and organized, Hansen said. The victories of Somali forces don’t hold much significance unless the root problems are addressed, he said.

“There are two core issues,” Hansen concluded. “The Somali army is not paid and they don’t have any local legitimacy in the (lower Shabelle) area. There needs to be local negotiations, and you need to have some kind of security structure where you pay your soldiers.”

The Somali government has struggled to sustain its forces financially, despite more than $2 billion in military aid from the United States. The aid also includes a $100 monthly stipend to 7,000 soldiers, but that has become their only income, according to the Washington Post.

“The Somali government cannot afford to pay the soldiers and at the same time to purchase lethal equipment,” President Hassan Sheik Mohamud said in an interview last month. “This is the dilemma that we have.”