On Friday, Somali National Army (SNA) forces was praised by the African Union Transition Mission in Somalia (ATMIS) for the successful disruption of an al-Shabaab* attack on Albao military base in the country's Southwest State, according to an ATMIS statement.
Albao military base is one of the six military bases that the Somali security forces took from the ATMIS as part of the withdrawal plan of the AU mission.
The SNA reported that 15 al-Shabab terrorists, including three commanders, were killed Thursday evening during the operation conducted in the southwest region.
On 13 July, after the Geriley military base in southern Somalia was handed over to local security forces, the base was seized by the al-Shabaab group.
Within UN Security Council Resolutions 2628 and 2670, which mandate that the mission hand over security responsibilities in agreed areas to Somali security forces, the ATMIS withdrew 2,000 troops by June 30 and is expected to draw down another 3,000 in September.
Since the mid-2000s, Somalia has been suffering from the activity of an al-Qaeda-linked* terrorist group, al-Shabaab*, which aims to seize power in the country. The terrorist group is also active in Ethiopia and Kenya.
The Somali government has recently reinforced its military operations against the terrorists. Last week, 18 members of the al-Shabaab group were killed in a military operation conducted by the Danab Brigade, a highly trained commando unit of the Somali National Army, according to the government.
* Al-Qaeda and al-Shabaab are terrorist groups banned in Russia and many other countries