Over 200 al-Shabaab militants were killed in recent military operations in Galmudug, South West State, and Jubaland, Somalia's Information Minister Daud Aweis says.
The minister outlined that the army had also cleared large areas of the terrorists in the Mudug region and seized a "senior" al-Shabaab explosives expert.
According to Daud Aweis, Somalia's President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud has called on the Somali people for contributions of $1 per person for the "national defense and liberation program" to "eliminate terrorists and give people more opportunities to participate in ongoing operations."
Al-Shabaab has been active is Somalia since the mid-2000s, capturing large swathes of the country's territory in the following years.
More recently, al-Shabaab has instrumentalized terror attacks as their primary tactic.
Today, the group is in control of vast areas of the Somali countryside. Last year, the current Mogadishu government under President Mohamud declared an "all-out war" on the movement. In response, al-Shabaab carried out more terror attacks, including the deadliest one in five years, when at least 121 people were killed and 333 injured in Mogadishu in October 2022.
*Al-Shabaab and Al-Qaeda are terrorist organizations outlawed in Russia and many other countries.