Eight foreign Islamic militants were killed during fighting with Somali government forces in a remote, mountainous northeastern Somali area, the vice president of the region said on Saturday.
The fight against Islamic militants in Somalia has dramatically moved to the relatively peaceful northeast of the country, opening up a new battlefront between them and Somali government forces and their allies who have previously fought only in the country's south.
Hassan Dahir Mohamoud, vice president of the semiautonomous northeastern region of Puntland, said there were no civilian casualties because the area is uninhabited. Earlier reports had said the fighting took place in a village, and it is not clear why there was the discrepancy.
At least one US warship late Friday pounded the area, which is near the port town of Bargal, after the government forces clashed with the militants.
"We have successfully completed the operation against the terrorists who came here and we are chasing the other five," Mohamoud said, speaking from the Puntland capital, Garowe.
He said the total number of militants was 13, but earlier government officials reported there were as many as 35.
Mohamoud said that five of the foreign militants came from Britain, Eritrea, Sweden, the US and Yemen. He said security forces identified them from their passports.
The remaining three could not be immediately identified, Mohamoud said.
US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates declined to comment yesterday about Friday's reported US naval strike on targets in Somalia, saying it was possibly an ongoing operation.
"I think that's possibly an ongoing operation and I'm not going to talk about it," Gates told a news briefing on the sidelines of an Asian security conference.
The Somali government declared victory against Islamic insurgents in the capital, which is in the south, in April. But since then officials of the government and Ethiopian troops sent to prop up it have been targeted in bomb attacks.
"The insurgency appears to be spreading to other parts of Somalia, which raises a fundamental problem for the TFG [transitional federal government]. In addition, the military tactics being used by the insurgents, including the use of suicide bombings, raises a very serious question about the prospects for long-term stability in Somalia and the region," said Ted Dagne, a specialist in African Affairs at the Congressional Research Service, the research arm of the US Congress.
A task force of coalition ships is permanently based in the northern Indian Ocean.
BACKLASH: The National Party quit its decades-long partnership with the Liberal Party after their election loss to center-left Labor, which won a historic third term Australia’s National Party has split from its conservative coalition partner of more than 60 years, the Liberal Party, citing policy differences over renewable energy and after a resounding loss at a national election this month. “Its time to have a break,” Nationals leader David Littleproud told reporters yesterday. The split shows the pressure on Australia’s conservative parties after Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s center-left Labor party won a historic second term in the May 3 election, powered by a voter backlash against US President Donald Trump’s policies. Under the long-standing partnership in state and federal politics, the Liberal and National coalition had shared power
NO EXCUSES: Marcos said his administration was acting on voters’ demands, but an academic said the move was emotionally motivated after a poor midterm showing Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr yesterday sought the resignation of all his Cabinet secretaries, in a move seen as an attempt to reset the political agenda and assert his authority over the second half of his single six-year term. The order came after the president’s allies failed to win a majority of Senate seats contested in the 12 polls on Monday last week, leaving Marcos facing a divided political and legislative landscape that could thwart his attempts to have an ally succeed him in 2028. “He’s talking to the people, trying to salvage whatever political capital he has left. I think it’s
CONTROVERSY: During the performance of Israel’s entrant Yuval Raphael’s song ‘New Day Will Rise,’ loud whistles were heard and two people tried to get on stage Austria’s JJ yesterday won the Eurovision Song Contest, with his operatic song Wasted Love triumphing at the world’s biggest live music television event. After votes from national juries around Europe and viewers from across the continent and beyond, JJ gave Austria its first victory since bearded drag performer Conchita Wurst’s 2014 triumph. After the nail-biting drama as the votes were revealed running into yesterday morning, Austria finished with 436 points, ahead of Israel — whose participation drew protests — on 357 and Estonia on 356. “Thank you to you, Europe, for making my dreams come true,” 24-year-old countertenor JJ, whose
UNSCHEDULED VISIT: ‘It’s a very bulky new neighbor, but it will soon go away,’ said Johan Helberg of the 135m container ship that run aground near his house A man in Norway awoke early on Thursday to discover a huge container ship had run aground a stone’s throw from his fjord-side house — and he had slept through the commotion. For an as-yet unknown reason, the 135m NCL Salten sailed up onto shore just meters from Johan Helberg’s house in a fjord near Trondheim in central Norway. Helberg only discovered the unexpected visitor when a panicked neighbor who had rung his doorbell repeatedly to no avail gave up and called him on the phone. “The doorbell rang at a time of day when I don’t like to open,” Helberg told television