MOGADISHU, Aug 16 (PRENSA LATINA) — A Somali elite unit freed 33 children in an operation against the armed group Al-Shabaab in the southwest of the Lower Shabelle region, the website hiiraan.com reported.
The rescue was carried out in Kurtunwaarey, an area considered a stronghold of the insurgent group in the region, about 200 kilometers from the capital, the media said.
Official spokesman Ismail Mukhtar Oronjo stated in a statement to the press that ‘the children were separated from their families by Al-Shabaab for indoctrination, and were rescued after the military liberated the city from the group.’
Military radio reported for its part that Somali commandos killed at least four high-ranking members of the anti-government faction, including the group’s financial coordinator and the operations commander.
However, a bomb exploded on Friday near a military base in the same region, killing a soldier, Adan Moalim, an Army source, told the media.
The media also reported that three soldiers were wounded by the explosion of a land mine on the outskirts of Bal’ad, in the central strip of Shabelle, although no insurgent group claimed responsibility for the attack. — NNN-PRENSA LATINA
