Airstrikes kill Communications coordinator between Al-Shabaab and Al-Qaeda

Somali National Army in collaboration with allied airstrikes has clashed with Alshabaab rebels in Bay and Middle Juba regions. Reports claim that SNA has killed top-ranking Al-Shabaab leader responsible for communications with its affiliate group, AlQaeda.

Reports from the Bay region of Somalia indicate that air and ground attacks from Somali National Army to Al-Shabaab militants have happened in Buulo-falaay village in Buur-hakaba district.

Two helicopters were reported to have hit an Al-Shabaab camp, dropping a battalion of commandos that stormed the al-Shabaab base in Buulo-falaay.

Officers of Danab Commandos told local media that they are now in control of the compound, and have not given the exact casualties on the site.

Meanwhile, airstrikes in Jilib district in the Middle Juba region has allegedly killed the Communications’ Coordinator between Al-Shabaab and its affiliate al-Qaeda, which has been identified as Ibrahim Abu Hamza.

Officials said Abu Hamza was targeted while traveling in a convoy outside Jilib district, although other high-ranking militants had accompanied him on the trip, only the death of the communications chief was confirmed.

These series of ground and air attacks in these parts of Southern Somalia comes as the Kenyan intelligence has recently revealed that the most explosives of Al-Shabaab are produced in Jilib town of Middle Juba.