The group has also launched attacks in Kenya and Uganda which have contributed troops to the 22,000-strong AMISOM force.
A
Somali policeman walks towards the scene of an explosion outside the
headquarters of Somalia's Criminal Investigation Department (CID) in the
capital Mogadishu, July 31, 2016.
Somali Islamist group al
Shabaab on Saturday shelled residential areas in the town of Baidoa,
west of the capital Mogadishu, hitting a hospital and likely causing
casualties, the African Union (AU) peace keeping force AMISOM said in a
Twitter post.
The al Qaeda-allied group, which
wants to topple Somalia's Western-backed government and rule the country
according to Islamic Sharia law, has been ramping up attacks on both
civilian and military targets in recent months.
"Al
Shabaab militants fired mortar shells at densely populated civilian
residential areas in Baidoa town this morning," AMISOM said on its
Twitter account.
"One round of the mortars hit a hospital. Civilian casualties are unknown but expected."
Security
analysts have warned that the group could step up attacks, taking
advantage of the distraction caused by campaigning for a presidential
election due in August.
The group has also launched attacks in Kenya and Uganda which have contributed troops to the 22,000-strong AMISOM force.
In
the most recent attacks, al Shabaab late last month used vehicle-borne
suicide bombers to launch assaults on an AMISOM base and the
headquarters of Police's Criminal Investigations Directorate (CID) both
in Mogadishu.
The attacks left at least 23 people dead.
Somalia has been gripped by violence and lawlessness since early 1990s following the toppling of military dictator Mohamed Siad Barre.
إرسال تعليق