Al Shabab militants raided two communities close to the Ethiopian border, killing 17, including three civilians.
The uncommon border-area attack took place on Wednesday when fighters from the al Qaeda-affiliated group raided the villages of Yeed and Aato in Somalia’s Bakool region after one of their commanders was killed on the Ethiopian side of the border days earlier, according to the Ethiopian commander.
Due to a strong Ethiopian security presence in the area and inside Somalia, where they are also a component of an African peacekeeping force, al Shabaab attacks in areas close to Ethiopia’s border are uncommon.
The Ethiopian commander, who requested anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media, claimed that an al Shabaab commander had crossed the border to establish a unit in Ethiopia.
He initially stated that 17 Ethiopian police officers deceased, but then added that there were also civilians murdered.
He claimed that al Shabaab members had their heavy machine weapons and trucks taken by the local Ethiopian police. He claimed to have witnessed the numerous al Shabaab bodies.
Abdiasis Abu Musab, the spokesperson for Al Shabaab’s military operation, claimed that the group’s members had taken control of the two villages and murdered numerous Ethiopian police personnel there. Additionally, he claimed that the group took guns from the Ethiopian police.
This is coming after the U.S Military killed two Al Shabab militants in offensive airstrikes in the southern Somali province of Jubaland.
Formed in the mid-2000s, Al Shabab came to prominence in the 2006–2009 Somalia War. In early August 2011, the Transitional Federal Government under Sharif Sheikh Ahmed and its AMISOM allies managed to capture all of Mogadishu from the al-Shabaab militants.
In August 2014, the Somali-government-led Operation Indian Ocean was launched to clean up the remaining insurgent-held pockets in the countryside.
On September 1, 2014, a U.S. drone strike carried out as part of the operation killed al-Shabaab leader Ahmed Abdi Godane, also known as Mukhtar Abu Zubair.