Somalia’s Defense Ministry officially announced on Sunday that a recent military operation against the al-Shabaab terror group successfully killed a senior operative. The operation, conducted in the area of Warta Eey Duure, located north of Hudur, specifically targeted and successfully killed Abdullahi Abukar Ali.
Ali had served as the terror group’s head of finance, managing funds extorted from civilians and coordinating the recruitment of child soldiers. He was a key operative who had long operated under the group’s control in the Bakool region and was among their most-sought after figures.
The ministry stated that this precision operation had eliminated a significant threat, dealing a major blow to al-Shabaab’s operational network in the region. Hudur, the provincial capital of Bakol, is situated 374 kilometers from the national capital of Mogadishu, the ministry’s statement added.
The Somali National Army, with support from the African Union Transition Mission, has intensified operations against the terror group in recent weeks. This intensified effort is part of a broader push against the al-Qaeda-affiliated terror group al-Shabaab across several key regions.
A recent week-long operation in the Lower Shabelle region killed more than 100 terrorists and liberated the strategic town of Bariire. The Somali terror group, which has waged an insurgency against the government for over 16 years, regularly targets security forces and civilians.