Sunday 4, Jan 2026 {HMC}  Somali special forces killed 15 Al Shabaab terrorists and captured eight others during a nighttime operation in southern Somalia, the Defence Ministry said on Sunday, underscoring what officials described as the military’s expanding reach against the militant group.

The elite Danab unit carried out the raid late Saturday in the Jilib district of the Middle Juba region, long considered a key Al Shabaab hub.

In a statement, the ministry said the operation involved air mobility and precise ground maneuvers, allowing troops to strike militant positions deep inside contested territory.

Somalia’s growing ability to combat terrorism

Officials stated that the raid underscored the Somali National Army’s growing capabilities, particularly its ability to deploy rapidly and sustain operations across multiple regions.

Al Shabaab, which is linked to Al Qaeda, has waged terrorism against Somalia’s federal government for more than 16 years, carrying out frequent attacks on security forces, government officials and civilians.

Since late 2024, Somali forces — alongside security units in the semi-autonomous Puntland region — have intensified air and ground operations against Al Shabaab in southern and central Somalia, as well as against Daesh terrorists in the northeastern Bari region, with backing from international partners.

SOURCE:TRT World

Sunday 4, Jan 2026 {HMC} More than 30 people were killed and several others kidnapped by “bandits” in Nigeria’s central Niger state, police said on Sunday.

The bandits invaded Kasuwan Daji village in Kabe district and set a market ablaze, before looting shops for food.

“Over 30 victims lost their lives during the attack, some persons were also kidnapped,” during the raid on Saturday, Wasiu Abiodun, Niger police spokesperson said.

Kidnap gangs, referred to as bandits by locals, regularly carry out mass kidnappings for ransom and loot villages in the parts of northwest and northcentral Nigeria.

Hardest hit

But Niger state has been one of the hardest hit in recent months.

In November, armed gangs abducted more than 250 students and staff from a Catholic school in the state.

Authorities announced their release in two batches weeks later.

The Nigerian government has ramped up efforts to improve security in the wake of mass abductions. Many of the victims, who were recently kidnapped, have since been rescued.

SOURCE:AFP and trt africa

Sunday 4, Jan 2026 {HMC} Yemeni government troops backed by Saudi Arabia have retaken a series of provinces from the United Arab Emirates-backed secessionist Southern Transitional Council (STC) as tensions between the regional Gulf Arab powers continue to simmer.

Rashad al-Alimi, head of the Presidential Leadership Council (PLC), the internationally recognised government in the splintered war-ravaged nation, said in a statement on Saturday that Saudi-backed Homeland Shield forces had achieved “record success” in “retaking all military and security positions in the province” bordering Saudi Arabia after the operation launched a day earlier.

Crucially, the government announced that it had retaken control of Mukalla, the key eastern port and capital of Hadramout province, from the STC, which seized it last month and which Saudi forces attacked in recent days.

The Director General of the Youth Office for al-Mahra governorate, Mohammed Omar Suwailam, also told the Anadolu news agency on Sunday that Homeland Shield forces have taken control of all nine districts of the governorate following the withdrawal of STC forces.

Since Tuesday, Yemen has seen an unprecedented escalation in tensions after STC forces took control of Hadramout and al-Mahra in early December – the two provinces make up nearly half of Yemen’s territory and share a border with Saudi Arabia.

According to Al Jazeera’s Yemen affairs editor, Ahmed al-Shalafi, major shifts have occurred in Yemen’s political and military landscape over the past day.

“The Yemeni army and the Homeland Shield forces were able to enter the battlefield and interfere militarily to resolve the conflict on the ground,” he said.

“The political action came second, when the Yemeni government invited the Southern Transitional Council for a conference in Saudi Arabia,” al-Shalafi added.

According to the official, at least 152 members of the STC’s forces were wounded, and 130 were taken captive.

On Saturday, a military official with the STC told AFP Saudi warplanes had carried out “intense” air raids on one of the group’s camps at Barshid, west of Mukalla.

Still, the STC welcomed an offer of dialogue from Saudi Arabia, calling it a “genuine opportunity” that could safeguard “the aspirations of the southern people”.

Additionally, local sources told Al Jazeera that life was gradually returning to normal in the city of Seiyun, in the region and governorate of Hadramout, where work has resumed as part of efforts to reactivate state institutions and ensure the continued provision of services to citizens.

Hadramout Governor Salem Ahmed Said al-Khanbashi arrived at Seiyun airport in Wadi Hadramout after the Homeland Shield forces took control of the region, Al Jazeera Arabic has reported.

But tensions and discord still abound elsewhere in the south.

Yemen’s internationally recognised government released a statement regarding alleged restrictions imposed by the STC in the port city of Aden in southern Yemen.

It said the STC’s “restrictions on citizens’ movement to Aden are a grave violation of the constitution and a breach of the Riyadh Agreement.

We call on the Southern Transitional Council to immediately and unconditionally end all restrictions on the movement of citizens. We affirm that the state will take measures to protect civilians and guarantee freedom of movement.”

Source Aljazeere.

Sunday  4, Jan 2026 {HMC} The African Union has expressed ”grave concern” following US military strikes on Venezuela and the subsequent capture of President Nicolás Maduro by the Trump administration.

”The African Union reaffirms its steadfast commitment to the fundamental principles of international law, including respect for the sovereignty of States, their territorial integrity, and the right of peoples to self-determination, as enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations,” the Pan-African body said in a statement on Saturday.

A plane carrying President Maduro has landed in New York after a late-night US operation in Caracas. Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, were taken off the aircraft upon arrival in New York, where they have been charged with drug and terror-related offences, which they have long denied.

Footage aired by several US outlets showed Maduro surrounded by law enforcement officers as he was escorted off the plane at Stewart Air National Guard Base.

‘Prevent any escalation’

The US attacks on the oil-rich country have sparked global outrage and cast doubts on the current global order.

The African Union said it ”underscores the importance of dialogue, peaceful settlement of disputes, and respect for constitutional and institutional frameworks, in a spirit of good neighbourliness, cooperation, and peaceful coexistence among nations.”

The African Union emphasises that the complex internal challenges facing Venezuela can only be sustainably addressed through ”inclusive political dialogue among Venezuelans themselves.”

It expresses solidarity with the Venezuelan people and urges ”all parties concerned to exercise restraint, responsibility, and respect for international law to prevent any escalation and to preserve regional peace and stability.”

Similarly, South Africa on Saturday called on the UN Security Council to urgently convene and address the US military strikes on Venezuela, and the capture of President Nicolás Maduro and his wife.

‘Invasion of sovereign nations’

‘‘Unlawful, unilateral force of this nature undermines the stability of the international order and the principle of equality among nations,’’ South Africa’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement Saturday.

Pretoria further said it notes with grave concern the recent developments in Venezuela and views US actions as a manifest violation of the Charter of the United Nations, which mandates all member states to refrain from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state.

It added that the charter does not authorize external military intervention in matters that are essentially within the domestic jurisdiction of a sovereign nation.

‘‘History has repeatedly demonstrated that military invasions against sovereign states yield only instability and deepening crisis,’’ the statement said.