Somalia insurgency

Federal forces advancing on Buurhakaba, held by forces loyal to Laftagareen, suffered heavy casualties in fighting between Leego and Jameecada, Garowe Online reported, citing reports that numerous soldiers were killed and 36 military vehicles, including six Turkish-made Kirpi armoured vehicles, were lost.

Somalia's federal government sent more than 200 military vehicles toward Burhakabo on Saturday, after forces loyal to former Southwest president Abdiasis Laftagaren seized the town last week, Somali Guardian reported. The government had not commented. Local media said at least three military vehicles were destroyed in roadside bomb attacks between Wanlawayn and Afgoye this week.

An alleged Turkish drone strike on Wednesday night killed two members of Laftagaren's forces on a motorcycle, local media reported, according to Somali Guardian. Hassan Abdulkadir, a former Southwest internal security minister and key figure behind those forces, escaped unharmed. It was unclear whether he was the target.

Forces of the ousted Southwest leader Abdiasis Laftagaren also seized Dinsor, Berdale and Awdinle towns on Thursday and Friday, Somali Guardian reported, leaving Baidoa as the only town in Bay region still under the federal government.

Forces loyal to the former Southwest State president, Abdiasis Laftagaren, seized Burhakabo, on the road between Mogadishu and Baidoa, after a brief gunfight, Somali Guardian reported. They displayed dozens of captured federal troops. The federal government had not commented.

Defence Minister Ahmed Moalim Fiqi said on Tuesday that authorities had removed 260 armed men from opposition leaders' homes in Mogadishu and held them in custody. He accused the United Arab Emirates of arming opposition leaders and alleged that forces linked to Puntland and Jubaland had been brought to Mogadishu.

Somalia's national anti-money-laundering committee added 10 people, including former South West State president Abdiaziz Hassan Mohamed Laftagareen, to a financial sanctions list over suspected links to Al-Shabaab, requiring assets to be frozen. The published decision did not detail the evidence against each person.

Large numbers of government forces, with military trucks and armoured vehicles, deployed around the residences of former President Sharif Sheikh Ahmed and former Prime Minister Hassan Ali Khaire near Mogadishu airport, as local media reported that President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud intended to disarm opposition leaders, Somali Guardian reported.

Al-Shabaab fighters captured Hees, in the central Hiran region near Mataban, after a brief battle with the Somali National Army, cutting a supply road for government troops in the area, Somali Guardian reported.

Forces loyal to Abdiasis Laftagaren, the former Southwest leader, took Qansah-dhere in the Bay region, 90 kilometers west of Baidoa, without a gunfight, local media reported. It was the first town to pass fully out of federal control since the federal offensive that removed him from power in late March.

Al-Shabaab said it had signed an agreement with the Hawadle clan to end a four-year conflict in the Hiran region, where the clan had fought it alongside federal troops; the government had not responded.

The National Intelligence and Security Agency said it had killed Bashir Ahmed Haji Nunow, whom it called a former leader of al-Shabaab's Amniyaat assassination unit, in an overnight operation with international partners in Jilib District, state news agency SONNA reported.

Bloomberg reported that Ethiopia planned to withdraw more than 3,000 troops from Somalia as fighting escalated at home; a Somali defence ministry official said Mogadishu had not been informed.

The office of the former South West State president accused the federal government and Turkey of air strikes on Baidoa that it said killed civilians, including four children; the claims could not be independently verified.

Fighters loyal to the former South West State president entered Baidoa and the army drove them out, an army commander said, as fighter jets and drones were reported over the city; MSF said three people died, including a health worker.

Forces allied with the former South West State president clashed with the army in Baidoa for the second time in under a month; the government accused them of joining forces with al-Shabaab, which their spokespeople rejected.

Heavy fighting broke out in Mogadishu between government and opposition forces near the homes of a former prime minister and a former president, ahead of protests against the president's term extension.

The Defence Ministry said the army, with Jubbaland forces and air strikes by international partners, killed 27 al-Shabaab fighters in Jilib, Xagar and Afmadow districts.

Federal troops and allied fighters took control of Baidoa, capital of South West State, and the state's president, an opponent of the constitutional changes, resigned and left for Kenya.

Parliament amended the constitution to extend presidential and parliamentary terms from four to five years, delaying elections planned for May 2026; opposition leaders rejected the change.