Blasts in Somalia’s capital Mogadishu kill at least 10 – residents
Mogadishu, Somalia Reuters Several blasts at a popular open-air market in Somalia’s capital Mogadishu killed at least 10 people and left many others injured on Tuesday, local residents told Reuters. “I have counted 10 dead people and 15 others injured. My shop is completely destroyed. The blasts took place in four places in the centre […]
UN helicopter carrying “several” foreigners captured by al-Shabaab in Somalia
Mogadishu, SomaliaReuters Al-Shabaab militants captured a United Nations helicopter carrying two Somali men and several foreigners when it made an emergency landing in an area controlled by the Islamist group, a military official said on Wednesday. The aircraft encountered a defect shortly after taking off from Beledweyne city in central Somalia, Major Hassan Ali told […]
Suicide bomber kills at least seven in Somali tea shop; al-Shabaab claims responsibility
Mogadishu, SomaliaReuters A suicide bomber set off an explosion at a shop selling tea in Somalia’s capital on Friday, killing at least seven people, a witness and medical personnel. Police put the number of dead at five. Al-Qaeda-linked al-Shabaab group claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement on its Arabic media unit Shahada News […]
Kenya pledges security boost as it commemorates 2013 mall massacre
Nairobi, KenyaReuters Kenya pledged on Thursday to reinforce security measures against Somali militants as it commemorated a deadly mall attack which security analysts say led to improvements in the country’s readiness to counter threats. A decade after 67 people were killed during an attack by gunmen from Somalia’s al-Shabaab group at the upscale Westgate Mall […]
Suicide bomber kills at least 30 soldiers in Somali capital – military sources
Mogadishu, SomaliaReuters A suicide bomber killed at least 30 soldiers and wounded scores more inside a military academy in Somalia’s capital Mogadishu on Monday, two military sources said, in an attack claimed by the al-Shabaab militant group. A military campaign launched by government forces and allied militiamen last year has forced the al-Qaeda-linked group from […]
Uganda confirms casualties among country’s soldiers in Somali attack
Kampala, UgandaReuters Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni said late on Saturday there had been casualties during an attack by Somalia’s Islamist group al-Shabaab on a military base manned by Ugandan peacekeepers in the Horn of African country on Friday. Museveni did not say how many soldiers were killed or wounded but it was the first official […]
Al-Shabaab attacks African peacekeepers in Somalia, big death toll feared
Mogadishu, SomaliaReuters Islamist al-Shabaab militants attacked a military base housing Ugandan forces with the African Union peacekeeping mission in Somalia on Friday, and a Somali army captain said both sides suffered heavy casualties. Al-Shabaab has since 2006 has been fighting to topple the Horn of Africa country’s Western-basked government and establish its own rule based […]
Car bombs kill 35, burn houses in central Somalia – police
Mogadishu, SomaliaReuters Two car bombs detonated by al-Shabaab militants in central Somalia on Wednesday killed at least 35 people, including eight members of a single family, and wounded 40 more, a senior police officer said. The attack in the town of Mahas was the latest in a series by al Qaeda affiliate al-Shabaab since government […]
Crisis-hit Somalia, Ethiopia top aid group’s Watchlist for 2023
London, UKReuters Somalia and Ethiopia, both Horn of Africa nations ravaged by drought and conflict, will be the countries of highest concern in 2023, according to an annual Watchlist issued by the International Rescue Committee aid group on Wednesday. The report lists 20 countries, 11 of them in Africa, that it says are at greatest […]
Essay: State Department blacklists are only one tool to foster international religious freedom
KNOX THAMES, US State Department special adviser on religious minorities in the Obama and Trump administrations, looks, in an article first published on Religion News Service, at whether such designations help…