BELEDWEYN (Halbeeg News)-Somali forces killed several al-Shabaab fighters including a ring leader in covert operations in and outside Beledweyne town of Hiiraan region.
The operations were said to have been conducted on Thursday and Friday following a public tip-off.
Speaking to a local media, Farah Ali Wasuge, the commander of unit five of section 27 of DNA said among those killed on Thursday evening was a well known al-Shabaab bomb-maker in Howl-wadaag suburb of Beledweyne town.
“Our forces shot the man while he was burying IED on the roadside, he tried to escape with injury and entered a house in Howl-wadag village in Beledweyne. He later died in an exchange of gunfire with the security forces,” the commander said.
The forces recovered weapons from a house and arrested a woman said to be the wife of the slain al-Shabaab suspect.
In a separate operation, the forces engaged in a fight with al-Shabaab fighters on the outskirt of Beledweyne town prompting brief gunfire.
Commander Wasuge said the forces eliminated a number of the fighters and seized weapons from them.
“During the operation, the forces managed to kill a number of al-Shabaab fighters and several others to escape injuries. We are on their heel,” he stated.
Al-Shabaab was driven from the capital Mogadishu in 2011, but the group is still in control of several areas in southern Somalia.
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