Somali security forces recover explosives In Hiiraan

Somalia’s Intelligence and Security Agency officers on Sunday impounded explosives and other military supply that was hidden by Al-Shabaab in El-Gal settlement, 75 km southwest of Beledweyne.

The explosives seized include landmines, improvised explosive devices and other bomb-making materials, according to the NISA commander of Hiiraan region, Hassan Kaafi Mohamed Ibrahim.

Speaking to local media, Ibrahim said the operation came following a tip-off from locals in the area, saying that the area served as Al-Shabaab’s explosives depot that was being transported to various towns in the region.

NISA officers in Hiiraan have been recently conducting constant operations in and outside Beledweyne aimed at beefing up security in the region.

Al Qaeda-linked al Shabaab, which once ruled much of Somalia, wants to topple the Western-backed government in Mogadishu and drive out AMISOM peacekeepers also made up of soldiers from Kenya, Djibouti, Uganda and other African nations.