The U.S. conducted three airstrikes targeting al-Shabaab militants in the Lower Shabelle region of southern Somalia on Sunday, 5 April, Africa Command said.

The strikes, which AFRICOM said killed eight al-Shabaab militants and no civilians, occurred on Sunday, April 5 near the town of Mubaraak.

The U.S. military has increased its targeted strikes against al-Shabaab since 2014, part of a campaign to beat back the militant organization and prop up forces of Somalia’s federal government, which is based in Mogadishu.

U.S. Special Operations Forces and Turkish troops are training Somali National Army forces under the federal government.

The African Union has contributed some 20,000 troops to the fight under the banner of a peacekeeping mission known as AMISOM, or African Union Mission in Somalia.

Al-Shabaab, an Islamist movement with close ties to al-Qaeda, has sought to overthrow the Somali government for more than a decade. AMISOM drove the militants from Mogadishu in 2011, but al-Shabaab still launches deadly attacks on civilians and security personnel in the capital and control swaths of Somalia’s rural south.

So far SNA forces have had little success securing rural territories outside the capital.

AFRICOM commander Lieutenant General Stephen Townsend has defended the campaign’s slow progress against criticism, saying he does not consider the mission to be a case of “whack-a-mole.”

Chad has deployed soldiers to Niger and Nigeria in a counteroffensive against the Boko Haram terrorist group.

Speaking Tuesday on national television, Defense Minister Mahamat Abali Salah said that following an attack on a military base in Boma in Lac province on March 23 which killed 98 Chadian soldiers, “Operation Boma’s Wrath” was launched Saturday.

Salah said that as part of the operation, they deployed five companies of soldiers to Niger and Nigeria with the approval of these countries.

“Our purpose is to clear the area around Lake Chad from terror. We will continue to share the details of the operation,” he added.

On Friday, the government declared Lac province a war zone.

The attack on March 23 also left 50 people wounded, including civilians.

Boko Haram launched a bloody insurgency in 2009 in northeastern Nigeria but later spread its atrocities to neighboring Niger, Chad and Cameroon, which prompted a military response.

More than 30,000 people have been killed and nearly 3 million displaced in a decade of Boko Haram terrorist activities in Nigeria, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

The ministers of defence and representatives from Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, France, Germany, Mali, Niger, The Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Sweden and the United Kingdom participated in the launching of the Task Force Takuba. Due to the epidemic of COVID-19, the meeting was held remotely.

Mme Florence Parly introduced the political conclusions of the Pau Summit. She underlined the strong commitment of the G5 Joint Force partners, and detailed the French strategy in the Sahel region. The French Minister for the Armed Forces also focused on the engagement of the European countries in the region and seized the opportunity to thank the present nations for their valuable support. General Lecointre, French Chief of Defence Staff, completed the French overview on the Sahel security situation with an update on operation Barkhane.

General Ibrahima Dhirou Dembélé, Minister of Defence and Veterans of the Republic of Mali, and Mr Issoufou Katambé, Minister of Defence of the Republic of Niger, shared their analysis of the local security situation. They both highlighted the necessity and urgency to fight against organized armed groups conducting terrorist actions in the Liptako-Gourma region, and in particular, the Islamic State in the Greater Sahara (IS-GS) and the Group to Support Islam and Muslims (GSIM). They reaffirm the necessity to disarm all the fighters linked to the Signatory Armed Groups (SAG).

Considering the security situation in Mali and more broadly in the Sahel, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Sweden and the United Kingdom agreed on setting up a task force, at the request of the Malian President, His Excellency Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, and Nigerien President, His Excellency Mahamadou Issoufou, to assist the Malian Armed Forces in countering terrorist groups and to complement the current efforts made by operation Barkhane and the G5 Sahel Joint Force. All military engagements in the Sahel and Takuba in particular, are part of a wider, more comprehensive approach to promote security and stability in the region. Takuba will therefore be part of the counter-terrorism pillar of the “Coalition for the Sahel”, the broader coordinating framework recently announced in Pau. Ultimately, the ministers recognized that the threat of terrorism in the Sahel cannot be countered by military means alone.

The Takuba task force will be placed under Operation Barkhane’s command and operate in the Liptako region. It will be mainly composed of European Special Operations Forces and supported by key enablers providing a high level of autonomy. It will advise, assist and accompany Malian Armed Forces, in coordination with G5 Sahel partners, the UN mission (MINUSMA) and EU missions (EUTM Mali, EUCAP Mali and EUCAP Niger), with a robust legal basis in compliance with international law. Participants welcomed the contributions already approved by Belgium, Denmark, Estonia, France, the Netherlands and Portugal, as well as the planned contribution by Sweden (pending parliamentary approval) and called for additional commitments as part of this common European effort aiming at increasing international security.

Task Force Takuba is planned to have an initial operational capability (IOC) by the summer of 2020 and expected to become operational (FOC) by early 2021. Task Force Takuba is envisaged to act swiftly and to adapt to the evolving threat represented by terrorist groups and will play a key role in rapidly empowering local armed forces.

The ministers of defence have expressed their solidarity with the Chadian population and defence forces, after the terrorist attack on the island of Boma./.

A governor in Somalia’s Puntland was killed in a suicide bomb attack, witnesses said, in an attack claimed by the jihadist group al-Shabaab, like reported by thedefensepost.com.

The attack on Abdisalan Hassan Hersi, governor of the Nugaal region, happened in Puntland capital Garowe on March 29, said officials.

“The doctors tried to save the governor’s life but unfortunately he died from his injuries,” Mohamed Weli, a police officer in Puntland, told AFP by phone.

A source at the hospital, who did not wish to be identified, said the governor died less than an hour after being admitted to the intensive care ward.

“He was badly wounded in the blast and he had little chance of surviving such serious injuries,” the source told AFP.

A former police commander and a civilian were also wounded in the blast, and all three were being treated in hospital, Puntland’s interior minister, Mohamed Abdirahman, told reporters.

Witnesses said the attacker ran at the vehicle in which he was traveling before detonating his explosive vest.

“The governor and the former police commander were wounded seriously in the blast, the police sealed off the area after the blast,” said one witness, Adan Suleyman.

Abdikarim Ahmed, another witness, said the bomber ran on to the vehicle of the governor as he was parking near a police station before detonating his device.

The jihadist Shabaab group claimed responsibility in a statement.

Al-Qaeda affiliated al-Shabaab has fought to establish an Islamic state in Somalia since 2006. The militants were largely routed from Mogadishu in 2011 by the African Union’s Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) but they still control significant rural areas.

The group claimed responsibility for a massive car bomb in Mogadishu in late December that killed at least 90 people, the worst attack in the capital since 2017. Earlier that month, the militants stormed a Mogadishu hotel frequented by government officials.

In January, Shabaab fighters staged a brazen raid that penetrated the perimeter of Kenya’s air base at Manda Bay, killing ten civilians and one U.S. military member.

Western-backed efforts to counter terror groups across Africa are falling short, increasing the chances one or more affiliates of Islamic State or al-Qaida could try to carve out their own caliphate on the continent, according to the latest assessment by a top U.S. commander, like reported by voanews.com.

The stark warning, shared with lawmakers Tuesday, builds on previous intelligence showing Africa-based groups have been growing more ambitious and more capable, with some increasingly bent on targeting the West.

“Western and international and African efforts there are not getting the job done,” Gen. Stephen Townsend, commander of U.S. Africa Command, told lawmakers regarding developments in West Africa and the Sahel.

“ISIS and al-Qaida are on the march,” he said, using an acronym for Islamic State. “If ISIS can carve out a new caliphate, or al-Qaida can, they will do it.”

U.S. officials warn that many of the IS and al-Qaida affiliates have already grown so strong that Africa Command has been forced to shift its strategy to trying to contain the groups rather than to degrade their capabilities.

Much of the attention has focused on the IS affiliates, buoyed by publicity from a steady stream of attacks on Nigerian government forces and others in the region.

“We’re seeing increased activity by ISIS affiliates in West Africa, East Africa,” State Department counterterrorism coordinator, Ambassador Nathan Sales, said late last month. “The ISIS brand lives on.”

But military officials warn it is the increased activity by al-Qaida affiliates in West Africa that is their biggest cause for concern.

“They want to eventually establish a caliphate,” Brig. Gen. Dagvin Anderson, commander of Special Operations Command Africa, recently told the Combating Terrorism Center Sentinel.

“They’re quietly establishing their connections,” he said. “We’ve seen them intermarry into the local tribes. We’ve seen them become very entrenched in local politics and do this very quietly. But they know if they’re too public about their intentions, or if they raise the flag over some city, that will draw the attention of the West.”

Making matters more complicated, U.S. military and intelligence officials say they see an increasing willingness by al-Qaida and IS affiliates to collaborate.

One United Nations official said such cooperation was one of the factors behind a “devastating surge” that saw 4,000 civilians killed in Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger last January.

There are also concerns in East Africa, where the U.S. has focused increased firepower on al-Shabab in Somalia.

“The (al-Shabab) threat has been higher in the last few months than it was eight months ago when I first got to AFRICOM,” Townsend told reporters Tuesday after the hearing. “They aspire to attack Americans wherever they find us, to include the homeland.”

However, some U.S. allies are pushing back, agreeing that while the long-term concerns are real, the immediate threat is overstated.

“In the short term, the Sahel region and the Horn of Africa are unlikely to replace the Middle East and Afghanistan as regions from which the main threat to Europe emanates,” one European Union security official recently told VOA.

That type of sentiment may be making it more difficult for the U.S. to persuade some European partners to put more resources into the counterterror fight at a time when the Pentagon is looking at reducing its military footprint.

The U.S. has about 6,000 troops in Africa, but officials are in the middle of a review that could reduce that number by perhaps 10% or more over the next few years.

“The Sahel is principally a CT (counterterror) mission,” Defense Secretary Mark Esper said during a trip to Europe last month. “I’m not looking to put more troops in that fight.”

Instead, the U.S. and France, which has been leading the counterterror fight in West Africa with about 5,100 troops, have been pressuring other European countries to increase their military contributions.

“We’re not a lead partner in any of that. We’re a supporting player,” Townsend told reporters. “We, the world, need to do something about that.”

A senior commander in the East Africa-based militant group Al Shabaab has been killed by a US air strike in Somalia, state radio reported.

In 2008, the United States issued a $5 million reward for information on the whereabouts of Bashir Mohamed Qorgab.

Qorgab’s family confirmed his death, though the US, which regularly carries out air strikes on the African country, is yet to comment.

Qorgab was killed on February 22 in the southern Somali town of Sakow, following a joint operation by the Somali army and US military, state radio said. His wife was also killed, the radio reported, which didn’t specify why the news of the killings was delayed until now.

US AFRICOM said in a statement that Qorgab was the commander in charge of “planning and directing operations” in the Manda Airfield attack on January 5 in Kenya, which killed three US nationals.

His wife was also an active Al Shabaab member, US AFRICOM said.

Qorgab had been designated by the US for his links to the terror group. As of 2008, he was one of the approximately 10 members on Al Shabaab’s leadership council.

On Saturday, American drones hit Al Shabaab members for the fourth time in just over a week, with the latest strike hitting four suspected terrorists.

250 British soldiers are set to join a United Nations (UN) missions in Mali later this year.

The proposed deployment is in addition to the 30 British soldiers and Royal Marines currently deployed in Senegal.

The British forces in Senegal are seconded to a US-led so-called counter-terrorism exercise providing training to Special Forces from several West African nations.

Major John House, who is the commander of British forces in Senegal, has strongly backed the decision to send more troops to the region under the guise of counter-terrorism.

“If we don’t act we may find the problems getting closer to our door”, Major House told the BBC.

The additional British forces being sent to Mali may be part of a UN mission, but there appears to be implicit recognition by all key stakeholders that the British – in tandem with their American allies – will be operating independently of UN command.

As part of the deployment, British forces are expected to conduct long-range reconnaissance patrols into hostile territory.

Britain’s eagerness to be more deeply involved in the region, despite the risks, has inevitably given rise to suspicions that the real motive behind the deployment is more about influence projection than counter-terrorism.

This latest proposed deployment comes in the wake of the unprecedented dispatch of 30 Royal Marines to Belarus for training purposes.

In the light of these deployments, it would appear that Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, wants to flex his muscles before a long-anticipated defence and security review gets off the ground.

Jihadists have killed five policemen in an attack on a northern Nigerian town where more than 100 schoolgirls were abducted two years ago, like reported by dailymail.co.uk.

Fighters aligned to Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) in four trucks fitted with machine guns stormed Dapchi town in northeastern Yobe State late on Wednesday, sparking intense fighting with security forces, according to local residents.

“This morning, we collected the bodies of five policemen killed in the fight with the insurgents,” a resident told AFP on condition of anonymity.

“The attackers came around 5:00 pm (1600 GMT) and started shooting indiscriminately which made everyone to scamper indoors,” he said.

Another resident said the policemen fought back, killing two of the fighters but were over-powered by the heavily armed jihadists, leaving five officers dead.

“We are preparing to convey the bodies to Damaturu,” the state capital for their burial, he said.

The jihadists made away with two vehicles, one belonging to the police and the other from local hunters fighting alongside security forces, residents said.

The attack came on the same day that 14 people, including six soldiers and four policemen, were killed when rival jihadist faction, Boko Haram attacked a military base in Damboa in neighbouring Borno state.

In recent years, the small town of Dapchi has become increasingly vulnerable to ISWAP fighters, suffering repeated attacks.

In February 2018 more than 100 schoolgirls were abducted by the group from their hostels in an abduction which evoked memories of a similar kidnapping of over 300 schoolgirls in Chibok Town, in Borno state, by Boko Haram.

A month later, ISWAP released the majority of the Dapchi schoolgirls following negotiations with the government but kept in captivity Leah Sharibu, the only Christian among them because of her refusal to renounce her faith.

A global campaign has since been launched for her release.

A decade long jihadist insurgency in Nigeria’s northeast has killed 36,000 people and left more than 2 million displaced and in need of humanitarian aid.

The conflict has spilled over into neighbouring Cameroon, Chad and Niger.

Men of the Nigerian Army are currently in a gun battle in Damboa area of Borno State with Boko Haram insurgents, according to saharareporters.com.

Residents, who spoke with TheCable, said the insurgents entered the community at about 6:30am on Wednesday and started shooting sporadically.

One of the residents said for over an hour, troops from the army’s 25 Task Force Brigade in Damboa had been exchanging gunfire with the insurgents.

“They came in plenty of hilux trucks. We saw about 20 before we started running towards the bush,” one of the fleeing residents said.

“They came in two batches. One came in through the North Sambisa and the other from Alagaruno.

“Soldiers from the 25 Task Force came in about 30 minutes and right now, over an hour, they are still exchanging gunshots with the insurgents,” the resident added.

The attack comes a day after insurgents attacked Bwalakila, a neighbouring village under Chibok Local Government Area.

African leaders have decided to work on deploying 3,000 troops to West Africa’s troubled Sahel region as extremist attacks surge, an African Union (AU) official said according to alarabiya.net.

The new force would be a significant new player in the sprawling, arid region south of the Sahara Desert where fighters linked to al-Qaeda and the ISIS killed thousands of people last year – at times working together in an unprecedented move.

Smail Chergui, the AU commissioner for peace and security, relayed the troop decision taken at the recent AU summit during Thursday’s meeting with visiting European Union officials.

The AU continental body is expected to work with the West African regional counterterror force G5 Sahel as well as the West African regional body ECOWAS, which has formed peacekeeping units in the past, Chergui said.

ECOWAS in September announced what Chergui called a “very bold” plan to counter extremism in the region, including mobilizing up to $1 billion through 2024.

“As you see and recognize yourself, the threat is expanding and becoming more complex,” Chergui said. “Terrorists are now even bringing a new modus operandi from Afghanistan and al-Shabab” in Somalia.

It was not immediately clear what the next steps would be in forming the AU force for the Sahel, which has become the most active region in Africa for extremist attacks.