{"id":31823,"date":"2026-04-14T13:14:32","date_gmt":"2026-04-14T11:14:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/?post_type=news&#038;p=31823"},"modified":"2026-04-14T13:15:32","modified_gmt":"2026-04-14T11:15:32","slug":"somalia-claims-27-al-shabaab-fighters-killed-in-supported-operation","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/news\/somalia-claims-27-al-shabaab-fighters-killed-in-supported-operation\/","title":{"rendered":"Somalia claims 27 al Shabaab fighters killed in supported operation"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\">Somalia&#8217;s Defence Ministry said on Tuesday \u200bthat its armed forces and regional \u200csecurity forces had killed 27 al Shabaab militants in the semi-autonomous Jubbaland state in an operation with international \u200bsupport.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\">The Defence Ministry statement did not \u200bname the international partners that provided support \u2060but said its operation was backed by \u200bair strikes.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\">The United States military has conducted air strikes \u200bto help in the fight against al Shabaab, which has waged an insurgency for two decades to try \u200bto topple the Horn of Africa country&#8217;s \u200bcentral government and establish its own rule based on its \u200cstrict \u2060interpretation of sharia law.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\">The defence ministry said the militants were killed in &#8220;a large-scale operation in areas of Lower Jubba and Middle Jubba,&#8221; adding \u200bthat weapons \u200band landmines \u2060had also been seized.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\">It said those killed included key members of \u200bthe insurgent group.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\">An African Union peacekeeping \u200bmission \u2060has also been trying to help Somalia&#8217;s government push back al Shabaab, but the group still \u2060controls \u200bvast areas of the countryside \u200band has the ability to conduct regular attacks on major \u200bpopulation centres.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\">&#8211;Reuters&#8211;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":30523,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false},"news-type":[26],"class_list":["post-31823","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-type-general_news","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"","published_date":"","news_description":"Somalia's Defence Ministry","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/31823","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/31823\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":31824,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/31823\/revisions\/31824"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30523"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31823"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=31823"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}