Saturday November 1, 2025
FILE PHOTO — Local Ma’awisley fighters patrol a forested area near Mahaday in Somalia’s Middle Shabelle region. Community defence groups have been fighting alongside government forces in ongoing operations to drive Al-Shabab militants from rural strongholds across central Somalia.
Beledweyne (HOL) — Local defense forces killed a senior Al-Shabab commander and several of his bodyguards in an ambush on Saturday near Mahaday town in Somalia’s Middle Shabelle region, officials confirmed.
The operation was carried out in the villages of Ciid Ciidka and Jeembilow, about 20 kilometers north of Mahaday, where Al-Shabab militants had been active. According to local officials, the slain commander, identified as Muhudin Hassan, oversaw the group’s operations in several rural communities and was responsible for enforcing extortion and intimidation campaigns that targeted residents and traders in the area.
Community fighters said they killed Muhudiin and his armed guards in the surprise attack and seized two AK-47 rifles and military equipment from the scene. The raid, they added, was part of a growing campaign by local militias, known as
Ma’awisley, to drive Al-Shabab out of villages across the region.
The latest operation in Middle Shabelle follows a series of targeted strikes against Al-Shabab commanders across southern Somalia. Last week, a founding member of the militant group was
killed in a drone strike in Middle Shabelle, part of coordinated counterterrorism operations involving Somali forces and international partners.
Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, who
visited the Middle Shabelle frontlines in
March 2025, described the region as “strategically vital” to stabilizing central Somalia, noting its position along the main supply corridor between Mogadishu and Beledweyne. “If we secure this corridor, we secure the heartbeat of the country,” he said during the visit.
Regional security officials praised Saturday’s operation as part of this ongoing effort, saying it reflects growing cooperation between federal and community forces. “These local operations are making a difference,” one officer told HOL by phone. “They know the terrain and the people, and they are helping us close in on Al-Shabab hideouts.”
The militant group has not yet commented on the reported deaths. However, Al-Shabab has previously retaliated against similar attacks, targeting villages that support the government or provide intelligence to the army.
Federal and community forces say they will continue to pursue the group’s remaining cells in Middle Shabelle, a region viewed as a critical front in Somalia’s wider campaign to dismantle Al-Shabab’s network across central and southern Somalia.