Somalia | Common News Update

Mar52021 by adminNo Comments

Car bomb kills several at busy Mogadishu, Somalia, restaurant

World

March 5 (UPI) -- A car bomb in the Somalian capital of Mogadishu left at least 10 people dead and dozens of others injured Friday, local police said. The blast took place outside Lul Yemeni, a busy restaurant near the city's seaport, the Somali National News Agency reported. Advertisement Police spokesman Sadaq Adan Ali told Turkey's state-run Anadolu Agency that the explosive-laden vehicle struck the restaurant. The news agency reported up to 20 deaths in the blast. "Reports from Hamarjajab district in Benadir region say that there were casualties as a result of the blast," Somali Information Ministry spokesman Ismail Mukhtar Oronjo tweeted. No group has claimed responsibility for the attack, but the al-Qaida-affiliated al-Shabab militant group has carried out attacks in the region for y...

Dec212020 by adminNo Comments

U.S. troops to leave Somalia but remain in East Africa

Business

Dec. 21 (UPI) -- Although U.S. troops are leaving Somalia, they will be deployed elsewhere in East Africa, the U.S. Africa Command leader said. The Pentagon announced Dec. 4 that, under orders from President Donald Trump, U.S. personnel and assets will be removed from Somalia by early 2021. Advertisement The troops are involved in combating the Islamist terrorist group al-Shabab, training local forces and protecting Baledogle Airfield in southern Somalia. The U.S. forces will likely go to Camp Lemonnier in Djibouti or Manda Bay in Kenya, two countries that are adjacent to Somalia, but AFRICOM commander Gen. Stephen Townsend did not mention locations in his statement. "I directed the activation of a joint task force, JTF-Quartz, built around the headquarters of Special Operations Command-A...

Nov282020 by adminNo Comments

Acting Defense Secretary Christopher Miller travels to Somalia

Business

Nov. 27 (UPI) -- Acting Defense Secretary Christopher Miller made a surprise visit to Somalia Friday in the last of a four-country tour as President Donald Trump contemplates a draw down of counterterrorism troops there. Miller, who replaced fired Defense Secretary Mark Esper on Nov. 9, was making his first trip abroad in the position. The U.S. military has about 700 troops in the country. Advertisement Miller was visiting neighboring Djibouti as part of his scheduled trip when he took a flight to Somalia without traveling press. Officials said he is believed to be the first defense secretary to visit the country. Pentagon spokesman Lt. Col. Anton Semelroth said Miller took the trip to extend his holiday message of appreciation and support to the U.S. service members in Mogadishu. Somali...

Feb22020 by adminNo Comments

Somalia declares emergency over locust swarms

Science

Somalia has declared a national emergency as large swarms of locusts spread across east Africa.The country's Ministry of Agriculture said the insects, which consume large amounts of vegetation, posed "a major threat to Somalia's fragile food security situation".There are fears that the situation may not be brought under control before the harvest begins in April.The UN says the swarms are the largest in Somalia and Ethiopia in 25 years.Meanwhile, neighbouring Kenya has not seen a locust threat as severe in 70 years, according to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).However, Somalia is the first country in the region to declare an emergency over the infestation. Drones tested to combat desert locustsSomalia's unstable se...

Dec282019 by adminNo Comments

At least 79 dead in Somalia checkpoint car bombing

World

A car bomb outside a tax collection centre in Somalia has killed at least 79 people, according to officials.The blast struck a checkpoint during the morning rush hour at the start of the working week in the capital Mogadishu, in one of the deadliest attacks in the city in recent memory. Images taken at the scene showed a mass of mangled vehicles below clouds of black smoke. Image: A woman is pictured among bystanders at the scene of the attack Survivors described the intensity of the explosion as being similar to when a truck bomb detonated in the city two years earlier, leaving more than 500 dead.Both ambulance and government spokesmen warned in the aftermath of Saturday's blast that further fatalities were expected because of the se...