By Arraale Mohamoud Jama Freelance Journalist and Human Rights Activist based in Somaliland
Yube- Eastern Sanaag(ANN)-In recent days, a group of al-Shabaab fighters reportedly entered the eastern part of the Sanag Mountains in the Golis Mountains north of the Yube area of Sanag province.
Reports from the area indicate that Al-Shabaab militants were seen in the area and that there was no confirmation of their presence, according to a Puntland military official who spoke to Puntland regional media. He said 70 had entered the area within the Somaliland border.
The existence of the news was strongly denied by Yube District Commissioner King Ibrahim Mohamed Hassan, who last night told reporter Abdishakur Haybe by telephone.
District Commissioner however, described the reports that al-Shabaab has infiltrated the area was for political purposes, and accused the Somali regional authorities of Puntland of making such propaganda against political interests. disrupt the peace of Somaliland.
“The districts claimed by Al shabaab is propaganda, we the government are in control of those districts, sometimes false information and propaganda by the Puntland region who want to disrupt the peace and stability of the local government,” said, King Ibrahim.
Also, reports related to the Al-Shabaab movement entered eastern areas of Sanaag region, which some media have reported, citing Puntland officials as being unfounded, others confirmed.
Al-Shabaab has bases in Somalia, fighting the Somali government and AMISOM forces for the past decade, and has carried out attacks and bombings in the capital, Mogadishu, and most of the southern region of Somalia.
Galgala, located in the Puntland region of the Almadow Mountains on the southwestern coast of Bossaso, was discovered in 2010 to host the group, at the time when local militias, which refused the Puntland administration to invest in mining and other resources, took control of the region. Sheikh Mohammed Attam who, in 2015, publicly announced that he had joined the al-Qaeda-linked Al-Qaeda affiliate in Somalia.
Sh. Attam and his militant group, al-Shabaab, increased their attacks on the Puntland administration and their fight against them, repeatedly launching attacks and evacuations in Bossaso, the provincial capital of Bari, causing heavy casualties to Puntland security forces. After years of fighting, they are still fighting in Bossaso, the Galgala area that has been the base for the group for a long time.
In 2016, the Al-Qaeda-linked militant group, Galgala, announced that they had joined the Daaish group fighting in Syria, Iraq and elsewhere, and had continued attacks and operations in Bossaso and the roadway between Garowe and Bossaso.
It is remembered that the deadliest attack was the latest in a series of attacks, which took place in June 2018 at the Puntland Maritime Police Station on the outskirts of the Saracen Training and Training Corps (SCS). The base transported military vehicles and ammunition, causing casualties and injuries to the troops at the base.
This is not the first time the Administration of Puntland have falsely claimed that fighter have entered Somaliland, and that Somaliland has given support to the former al shabaab leader Sheikh Mohamed Said Attam, who has now been replaced by Abdulkadir Mumin, the current leader of the Galgala, but Somaliland denied the allegations.
The current leader of the Galgala group, Abdulkadir Mumin, is believed to have been the behind of the Galgala-based group in 2015, openly declaring that they have joined the ISIS, the Islamic State and their leader Abu Bakar Al-baghdadi who the US, say they killed Oct, 2019.
Al-Shabaab, at the time, was furious that Sheikh Abdulkadir and his Galgala Movement were declared to be part of the insurgent group,
Read: Somaliland: Joogitaanka Alshabaab Ee Bariga Sanaag Waa Sidee?
