Somalia says kills 12 in raid on ISIL cell

MOGADISHU, Somalia-Somali National Army (SNA) command said, 12 Daesh fighters have been killed in a raid by Somali commando troopers on ISIL-linked cell in southern Somalia, using an Arabic acronym for the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), Garowe Online reports. 

Foreign Jihadists were among the 12 militants reported dead in the raid conducted in Lower Shabelle region on Tuesday. 

“[Somali] troops on a routine military mission have carried out a planned assault on a camp where Daesh fighters were training. 12 fighters including Somalis and foreigners were killed after they posed resistance to operating commandos,” Somali Army said in a statement on Wednesday. 

Following bitter fissures within the Somali militant group, Al Shabaab splinter groups have tried to gain grounds in south-central regions and the northeastern State of Puntland.  

ISIL terror group for the first time claimed credit for an attack on allied forces on the road connecting Afgooye to Mogadishu on April 25.  

Puntland forces neutralized boatloads of militants in counteroffensives in Suuj valley and the Indian Ocean town of Garacad in mid-March.

GAROWEONLINE