By Mohamed Dhaysane
MOGADISHU, Somalia (AA) - Somalia’s National Intelligence and Security Agency (NISA) said Thursday it killed 30 terrorists in an operation against the al-Shabaab terror group in the central province of Galgadud.
The spy agency said top al-Shabaab commanders, including foreign nationalists, were killed in the operation that targeted the town of Galhareri -- the terrorists’ stronghold in the central provinces.
It named 11 terrorists as top commanders killed in the operation, including Abdi Jarin Shan-Bogolle who it said was one of the “Khawrij” founders in the Galgaduud region and Abdullahi Maalim Bashir who was one of the group’s leaders.
“Khawarijs” is a term that the Somali government uses to describe al-Shabaab terrorist. It is an Arabic term for the first sect in Islam that rebelled against Islamic rule in the early years following the death of Prophet Mohammad.
Twenty other terrorists were wounded during the operation that was conducted with support from unnamed international partners, according to NISA.
Military officials in the region told Anadolu that the operation was an airstrike that targeted terrorist leaders who were hiding.
The operation seems to have been in response to a terror attack Wednesday on a military base in the northcentral region of Mudug that al-Shabaab is said to have killed more than 191 soldiers.
The attack was a multi-pronged strike on the base in Caad in the Mudug region.
Somalia has been plagued by insecurity for years, with the main threats emanating from al-Shabaab and the Daesh/ISIS terror groups.
Since 2007, al-Shabaab has been fighting the Somali government and the African Union Transition Mission in Somalia (ATMIS) -- a multidimensional mission authorized by the African Union and mandated by the UN Security Council.
The terror group has stepped up attacks since Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, who was elected for a second term in 2022, declared an "all-out war" on the terror group.