HASSAN SHEIKH MOHAMUD

Somalia has launched what is being called the most significant military offensive against the al-Shabab extremist group in more than a decade.

A joint statement by the Somali Journalists Syndicate, the Somali Media Association and Somalia Mechanism for Safety of the Journalists condemned the raid and demanded the journalists’ immediate release. “State security personnel shouldn’t use the continuing security operations as a justification to impose restrictions on press freedom,” Mohamed Ibrahim, president of the Somali Journalists Syndicate, told The Associated Press. Since the government declared an all-out war against al-Shabab earlier this year, there has been growing pressure on local journalists. The government has said journalists reporting on al-Shabab’s activities should either go to the scene or abide by authorities’ restrictions. Abdalla Ahmed Mumin, the secretary-general of the Somalia Journalists Syndicate, an independent journalists’ union based in Mogadishu, was arrested earlier this year after criticizing a government decree telling journalists not to report on al-Shabab propaganda.

Journalists in Somalia say the government is further restricting their work amid a significant military offensive against the al-Shabab extremist group, with a new directive to submit content for approval before publication

Somalia’s government says the first group of 5,000 Somalis sent to Eritrea for military training has returned home, to the relief of parents who had alleged their sons had been recruited under false pretenses

Somalia’s health minister says the death toll from a pair of car bombings in the capital two days ago has reached 120 and could rise further because some people are still missing

Somalia’s health minister says the death toll from a pair of car bombings in the capital two days ago has reached 120 and could rise further because some people are still missing.

A police spokesman said there were mothers "with their children trapped on their backs" among the victims in the attack carried out by "ruthless terrorists."

Two car bombs exploded in Somalia's capital of Mogadishu on Saturday, leaving at least 100 people dead, Somalian President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud said.

Nearly 300 people were wounded in Saturday's explosions, the country's president said. The al-Qaida-linked al-Shabab extremist group claimed responsibility, saying it targeted the education ministry.

The two car bombings in Mogadishu, Somalia, on Saturday came as government-backed militias claw back territory from the al-Shabab insurgency group.

MOGADISHU, Somalia — (AP) — Somalia's president says at least 100 people were killed in Saturday's two car bombings at a busy junction in the capital and the toll could rise in the country's deadliest attack since a truck bombing at the same spot five years ago killed more than 500. President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, at the site of the explosions in Mogadishu, told journalists that nearly 300 other people were wounded. An Associated Press journalist at the scene said the second blast occurred in front of a busy restaurant during lunchtime. The Somali Journalists Syndicate, citing colleagues and police, said one journalist was killed and two others wounded by the second blast while rushing to the scene of the first. The Aamin ambulance service said the second blast destroyed one of its responding vehicles.

MOGADISHU, Somalia — (AP) — Somalia's president says at least 100 people were killed in Saturday's two car bombings at a busy junction in the capital and the toll could rise. It was the deadliest attack in Somalia since a truck bombing at the same spot in October 2017 killed more than 500 people. The group doesn’t make claims of responsibility when large numbers of civilians are killed, as in the 2017 blast. An Associated Press journalist at the scene said the second blast occurred in front of a busy restaurant during lunchtime. The Aamin ambulance service said the second blast destroyed one of its responding vehicles.

Somalia’s president says at least 100 people were killed in Saturday’s two car bombings at a busy junction in the capital and the toll could rise

Somalia’s president says at least 100 people were killed in two car bombings at a busy junction in the capital and the toll could rise.

MOGADISHU, Somalia — (AP) — Militia members in central Somalia have helped kill scores of al-Shabab militants in an ongoing operation against the Islamic extremist rebels that is receiving air support from the United States, Somali authorities said. “Al-Shabab has burned our villages, blown up our wells and boreholes, destroyed telecommunication towers, planted IEDs and murdered civilians indiscriminately,” he said. Al-Shabab spokesman Ali Mohamud Rage acknowledged the government’s uncompromising stance in his comments during a ceremony to graduate militants that was filmed and released Saturday. “It is always the people who bear the brunt of the excesses of rule under al-Shabab and they don’t enjoy popular support," she said. As a result, their uprisings ultimately were ending up in signing a peace deal with al-Shabab,” he said.

The deadly siege of a hotel in Somalia's capital over the weekend was the longest such attack in the country's history.

Somali authorities have ended a deadly attack in which 21 people were killed and dozens more wounded when gunmen stormed a hotel in the capital.

The al-Shabab extremist group has exploited Ethiopia’s internal turmoil to cross the border from neighboring Somalia in unprecedented attacks in recent weeks that a top U.S. military commander has warned could continue

The al-Shabab extremist group has exploited Ethiopia’s internal turmoil to cross the border from neighboring Somalia in unprecedented attacks in recent weeks that a top U.S. military commander has warned could continue.

A former deputy leader of the al-Shabab extremist group has been named a government minister by Somalia’s new administration in what some call a chance to persuade fighters to denounce violence

A former deputy leader of the al-Shabab extremist group has been named a government minister by Somalia’s new administration in what some call a chance to persuade fighters to denounce violence.

Somalia Drought The Kaam Jiroon camp for the internally-displaced is seen from the air in Baidoa, Somalia, Wednesday, June 15, 2022. He said: “I would like to take this opportunity to call upon our Turkish brothers to support us and do what they can, as they did before. Erdogan visited Somalia in 2011, amid a severe drought and devastating famine as Turkey sought to increase its influence in the Horn of Africa. The visit marked the start of Turkish humanitarian, development and infrastructure projects in Somalia. Erdogan said Turkey’s humanitarian and development assistance to Somalia in the past decade has exceeded $1 billion.

Somalia’s president has called for assistance from Turkey to combat the effects of severe drought that is threatening the Horn of Africa.

Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, who served as Somali president between 2012 and 2017, won the contest in the capital, Mogadishu, amid a security lockdown imposed by authorities to prevent deadly militant attacks. Mohamud’s election ended a protracted electoral process that raised political tensions — and heightened insecurity concerns — after President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed’s mandate expired in February 2021 without a successor in place. MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) — Somalia's presidential vote is proceeding to a third round Sunday, with the incumbent leader facing off against a former president. President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed and his immediate predecessor, Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, will now contest a third round of voting to be decided by 328 legislators. While Mohamed has made it to the third and final round, he is expected to face a strong challenge from the previous president, Mohamud.

A former Somali president voted out of power in 2017 has been reelected to the country’s top job after defeating the incumbent leader in a protracted contest decided by legislators in a third round of voting late Sunday.

Somalia is set to hold its long-delayed presidential vote on Sunday, ending the convoluted electoral process that raised tensions in the country when the president’s term expired last year without a successor in place.

Gunfire has erupted in Somalia’s capital between soldiers loyal to the government and others angry at the country’s leader as tensions spiked over President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed’s extended stay in power.

Security forces in Somalia's capital fired on hundreds of people protesting the delay of the country's election on Friday as at least one explosion was reported at the international airport and armored personnel carriers blocked major streets. (AP Photo)MOGADISHU – A health worker in Somalia’s capital says at least five soldiers were killed and more than a dozen people, mostly civilians, were wounded in violence related to protests over the country’s delayed election. Abdi Bafo, a doctor at the Medina hospital, spoke on Saturday, the day after Somali security forces fired on hundreds of people peacefully demonstrating in Mogadishu over the delayed vote. President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed is under pressure as the Feb. 8 election date came and went without resolution of issues related to how the vote is conducted in the Horn of Africa nation. AdMembers of parliament and senators then elect Somalia’s president.

Somalis march and protest against the government and the delay of the country's election in the capital Mogadishu, Somalia Friday, Feb. 19, 2021. President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed is under pressure as the Feb. 8 election date came and went without resolution of issues related to how the vote is conducted in the Horn of Africa nation. It cited a rise in COVID-19 cases, but critics called it an attempt to block the protest. Mohamud accused the president of a “coup.”AdThe United Nations and others have urged Somali political leaders to solve their differences quickly. AdMembers of parliament and senators then elect Somalia’s president.

Two regional states refuse to take part, and time is running out before the Feb. 8 date when mandates expire. Instead, the federal government and states agreed on another “indirect election,” with senators and members of parliament elected by community leaders — delegates of powerful clans — in each member state. Members of parliament and senators then elect Somalia's president. You were given to lead a united people in a peaceful way,” said one former president, Hassan Sheikh Mohamud. AdHe also warned that Jubbaland and Puntland could go the way of Somaliland, with Somalia's unity at stake.