Reference News Network August 4 report - According to AFP, on August 3, the African Union Mission in Somalia (AUSSOM) announced that multinational forces are fighting with armed members of the Somali extremist group al-Shabaab in a strategically significant city more than 100 kilometers west of Mogadishu, the capital of Somalia.
The report said that al-Shabaab's combatants are linked to Al-Qaeda. Since the beginning of the year, they have taken control of dozens of towns and villages, nearly wiping out the military achievements of the Somali government in its operations in 2022 and 2023.
AUSSOM stated in a statement that on August 1, the mission's forces launched a large-scale offensive together with the Somali army to recapture the city of Barile in the Lower Shabelle region. The city was controlled by al-Shabaab in March this year, when the Somali army withdrew without any fighting.
AUSSOM claimed that the joint military operation "caused heavy casualties among the terrorist organization, with more than 50 al-Shabaab combatants killed and many others injured." However, al-Shabaab denied this claim, stating that there were also casualties among AUSSOM personnel.
According to reports, AUSSOM currently has more than 10,000 soldiers in Somalia, but it has not been able to prevent al-Shabaab militants from continuing to carry out attacks. At the end of June, at least seven Ugandan soldiers were killed in a battle in a city in the Lower Shabelle region. (Translated by Lu Longjun)
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