A minimum of 130 al-Shabaab militants were killed during the coordinated military operations conducted in central and southern regions of the country, the Defense Ministry of Somalia said on X (formerly Twitter).
"The Somali National Army and the People's Defense Forces are determined to continue the war against [al-Shabaab] until they are eradicated from the country," the statement said.
Significant portions of territory have been reclaimed from the al-Qaeda-linked extremist organization over the course of the last three days, the ministry added.
Moreover, the military also confiscated weaponry and equipment from terrorist hideouts, which were subsequently destroyed.
Al-Shabaab has been a constant source of instability in Somalia for a long time. Since 2007, the terrorist organization has been engaged in combat with both the Somali government, the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) and its successor, the African Union Transition Mission in Somalia (ATMIS), authorized by the UN Security Council.
ATMIS forces, however, are scheduled to withdraw totally from the country by next December. In this regard, the nation has a year to oust al-Shabaab militants from Somalia, President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud said in late November.
*Terrorist organizations outlawed in Russia and many other countries