Somalia’s National Intelligence and Security Agency (NISA), said its operatives have attacked and captured al-Shabaab’s major logistical and operational complex in the Middle Jubba region.
In a statement issued over the weekend, the agency said in collaboration with international security partners, it has executed a precision attack, targeting the village of Arabow, located near the extremist stronghold of Bu’aale and effectively neutralising one of the group’s primary centres for organising terror activities.
Somali security officials confirmed that the operation resulted in the total destruction of critical infrastructure used by the insurgents to sustain their control over the area.
The attack successfully neutralised the group’s local political and administrative headquarters, as well as a specialised facility dedicated to the assembly of improvised explosive devices (IEDs), according to the statement.
The joint forces also struck the group’s propaganda apparatus, destroying the offices of Al-Kataib, the media wing responsible for disseminating extremist narratives and misinformation, the Somali intelligency agency said.
The raid extended to the group’s recruitment and training capabilities. A militia training camp and a residential compound housing senior instructors were destroyed during the operation.
Eight al-Shabaab operatives who were present at the site were killed, the agency claimed.
According to the statement, the operation concluded successfully, further degrading the insurgents’ ability to mobilise and train forces in the Middle Jubba region.
al-Shabaab who have been waging a bloody insurgency in Somalia since 2007 have not commented.
MG/as/APA