SOMALIA, Mogadishu: In a photograph released by the African Union-United Nations Information Support team 14 August, a commanding officer gives orders to recently trained members of the Somali National Army (SNA) as they march during a passing-out parade at an African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) training facility on the western fringes of the Somali capital Mogadishu. 660 Somali soldiers who had recently returned from 8 months training in Bihanga, Uganda, passed out along with 48 elite commandos, following a display of tactical and security exercises which included demonstrations of house-clearing, manning of vehicle checkpoints and explosives detection. The latest batch of SNA troops trained outside of Somalia will now deploy across the country, including one battalion to the semi-autonomous region of Puntland, in continuing operations supported by AMISOM, which has wrested control and liberated large areas and towns of strategic importance across Somalia from the Al-Qaeda-affiliated terrorist group Al Shabaab. AU-UN IST PHOTO / STUART PRICE.
Somali National troops have averted an attack on their base in Afgoye town in lower Shabelle. The attack in Afgoye town in Lower Shabelle region hit a security checkpoint outside the camp, and the car was unable to enter the compound, said Col. Abdirahman, a regional police commander.
The attack left two soldiers dead and six injured but the government troops were able to repel the attack killing several militants.
The Somali army, alongside the African Union peacekeeping troops, has been battling Al-Shabaab militants, which still control rural areas in southern Somalia and often attack military and civilian targets in the country.
Somali’s President is currently in Uganda in a summit that seeks to find a solution for the al Shabaab menace in the country and entire region.
