Turjumaad ayaa la diyaarinayaa

MOGADISHU (Somaliguardian) – Two senior Somali military commanders were killed on Thursday after Islamist militants ambushed government forces on the outskirts of Baidoa, deepening instability in Somalia’s troubled Southwest state amid an escalating political and security crisis.

The attack, claimed by the armed group Al-Shabaab, targeted a convoy of Somali federal troops near Baidoa in the Bay region, an area that has witnessed weeks of political upheaval following the removal of Southwest regional leader Abdiasis Laftagaren.

Among those killed were General Ali Addow, commander of the Somali National Army’s 8th Brigade, and Colonel Yonis, a senior commander in the army’s 60th Division. Their deaths mark one of the most serious battlefield setbacks for federal forces since the government seized control of Baidoa in March with the backing of Turkish air power.

The ambush erupted after militants attacked a military convoy travelling outside the city, triggering fierce clashes between Somali forces and Al-Shabaab fighters in territory long regarded as a militant stronghold. The insurgent group said it killed 20 soldiers, including three commanders, and captured four military vehicles mounted with anti-aircraft guns. Somali authorities had not immediately issued a formal account of the casualties or the full scale of the fighting.