MOGADISHU, Somalia – Somali security forces have arrested two medical professionals, Koshin Mohamed Ahmed and Keyse Farah Hassan, in Mogadishu, in connection with the Al-Shabaab group. They are in custody and being questioned about their involvement with the militant group.
Somalia’s intelligence agency confirmed that Ahmed was in charge of managing hospitals and treating Al-Shabaab fighters injured in combat and brought to Mogadishu. Hassan is said to have been treating Al-Shabaab members in Jilib, a stronghold in the Middle Jubba region.
The agency also revealed that Hassan is related to Hussein Ali Fidow, a senior Al-Shabaab leader who handles policy and regional affairs. Fidow oversees the group’s shadow governors in areas under Al-Shabaab’s control and is believed to help manage relations with local clans. He is also thought to sit on the group’s leadership council.
This comes just a week after security forces arrested Abdullahi Ahmed Hassan, a First Lieutenant in the Somali National Army (SNA), on charges of collaborating with Al-Shabaab. Despite his position, Hassan had been secretly working as a mole for the group.
Earlier this year, a soldier named Mustaf Mukhtar Aden killed four foreign trainers—three from the UAE and one from Bahrain—in a shooting at a military training camp in Mogadishu. Al-Shabaab later claimed responsibility, saying its mole posing as a soldier, carried out the attack.
The group’s influence goes beyond the army. Ayanle Mohamed Ali, a police officer in Mogadishu, reportedly joined Al-Shabaab last year, showing how the group’s pressure makes it difficult for the government to maintain loyalty within its security forces.
Last year, 11 officials from Mogadishu’s Hodan District were put on trial for allegedly working with Al-Shabaab, including some accused of aiding in the deadly Zobe Two bombing. There is growing concern over how much Al-Shabaab has infiltrated Somalia’s institutions, with critics questioning whether the military is capable of countering the group’s expanding influence.
