MOGADISHU – Somali president Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed says his government would step up fighting against al Shabaab, the al-Qaeda-linked group battling to overthrow the Western-backed government based in Mogadishu.
Mohamed says the attacks by Al Shabaab would derail its ongoing plan to flush militants out of the remaining areas in the south and central Somalia.
The fighting against Al Shabaab will continue until the militant group is eradicated”, he said while speaking at a memorial and prayer service for the late Mogadishu Mayor Abdirahman Omar Osman on Friday.
He also urged Somalis to help his government in a bid to root out Al Shabaab.
Al Shabaab, the deadliest Islamic organization in Africa declared their allegiance to al-Qaeda in 2010.
The militant group was driven out of Mogadishu capital in 2011, and have since lost many strongholds to Somali army and African Union troops
The al Qaeda linked group still holds large rural swathes of the country and continue to wage a guerilla war against the Western backed government of Somalia.
