Somalia sends more than 100 military vehicles to Buurhakaba
By the AFREEQUE newsroom, based on Caasimada Online
Somalia’s federal government has sent more than 100 military vehicles towards Buurhakaba, in Bay region, for operations against Al-Shabaab and forces loyal to former South-West president Cabdicasiis Xasan Maxamed, known as Laftagareen. The convoy follows the city’s seizure by those forces the previous week, according to Caasimada Online.
Somalia sent more than 100 military vehicles towards Buurhakaba on Saturday to prepare operations against the Islamist Al-Shabaab insurgents and forces loyal to former president of Somalia’s South-West, Abdiaziz Hassan Mohamed Laftagareen, Caasimada Online reports. The convoy left Wanlaweyn and travelled along the road linking Mogadishu and Baidoa, via Ballidoogle and Yaaqbariweyne.
The column included armoured personnel carriers, trucks for soldiers and supplies, and vehicles fitted with weapons. Residents said they saw it travelling for several hours. Federal forces had focused in recent days on the road between Mogadishu and Wanlaweyn, where they came under several Al-Shabaab attacks, according to the Somali media outlet.
The deployment follows the seizure of Buurhakaba the previous week by forces supporting Laftagareen, with Al-Shabaab’s backing. It comes after Laftagareen’s political consultations in Nairobi, reported on 17 October, and security discussions on Somalia’s South-West held on 20 October between Aadan Madoobe and Shariif Xasan. Media linked to Al-Shabaab also claimed that a military vehicle had been damaged and a soldier killed in an ambush on the Mogadishu-Afgooye road, an account that has not been independently confirmed.
