Sunday  September 7, 2025  {HMC}A roadside bomb killed at least three soldiers, including a military commander, in Somalia’s Bari region on Saturday, security officials said.

The attack occurred in the Markadaan area near Turmusaale village in the Calmiskaad mountains, a zone recently recaptured from Islamic State-linked fighters.

Several other soldiers were injured when the device struck an ambulance transporting troops, officials told HOL.

ISIS has not immediately claimed responsibility, but the extremist group has carried out similar roadside bombings in the Calmiskaad mountains, despite Puntland authorities previously declaring the militants besieged near the Balade stream outside Bosaso.

Military officials said the attack demonstrates the group’s continued ability to mine roads using mobile units that operate at night.

Local authorities also alleged that some residents are aiding ISIS by providing intelligence and supplies. Puntland Aviation Minister Mohamud Bile Nuur recently warned that individuals in his community were passing military secrets to the group, vowing that security agencies would act against them.

Source Hiiraan Online

Sunday  September 7, 2025  {HMC}Somalia’s Independent National Electoral and Boundaries Commission said Saturday that voter registration for the country’s long-promised one-person, one-vote elections will resume on Sept. 9.

Commission Chairman Abdikarin Ahmed Hassan told reporters the registration period will run until Sept. 30, allowing newly registered political organizations to recruit supporters.

He urged other groups that have met legal requirements to register, saying the commission’s offices “are open at any time.”

Earlier Saturday, the Commission registered 14 political parties, including those led by former parliamentary speakers Sharif Hassan Sheikh Aden and Mohamed Mursal Sheikh Abdirahman, marking a significant step in Somalia’s transition away from the clan-based power-sharing model.

Somalia’s federal government and a faction of the opposition recently signed a political agreement aimed at reshaping the electoral process. Under the deal, members of parliament will be directly elected through universal suffrage and will in turn choose the president — a hybrid arrangement that combines Somalia’s parliamentary tradition with direct voting.

The resumption of voter registration comes amid heightened public debate over electoral reforms in Somalia, where decades of conflict and political instability have delayed efforts to establish a stable democratic system.

Source Hiiraan Online

 

Sunday  September 7, 2025  {HMC}Somalia’s chief military judge warned government troops Sunday that they will face prosecution if they engage in politics, disobey battlefield orders, or violate military discipline.

Gen. Liiban Ali Yarrow, who heads the armed forces court, told Somali National Army units that political involvement is strictly forbidden for serving soldiers. He said any soldier seeking to enter politics must first resign, shed the uniform, and publicly declare that he is no longer part of the army.

“Any soldier who abandons the battlefield or engages in clan-based favouritism will be brought before the military court,” Yarrow said in his address.

The general urged troops to remain focused on their duty of safeguarding the country and protecting civilians. He warned that political entanglements could undermine their mission and weaken the ongoing fight against AS.

His remarks come as Somali forces carry out expanded offensives against the militant group, which has waged a deadly insurgency for more than 15 years. The warning also follows recurring reports that some soldiers have been suspected of entanglement in political rivalries, complicating government efforts to keep the security services unified.

Source Hiiraan Online

Sunday  September 7, 2025  {HMC}Hirshabelle state leaders accused Somalia’s federal government on Sunday of failing to support community fighters in Hiiraan who spearheaded the battle against al-Shabaab, warning that the neglect has allowed the militant group to regain ground.

Interior Minister Abdi Dahir Guure Karore said the Ma’awiisleey militias, drawn from Hiiraan residents, have been left without promised reinforcements and resources from Mogadishu. He said the federal government’s inaction has weakened the offensive and undermined earlier victories.

“The federal government has clearly abandoned the Ma’awiisleey,” Karore said. “When government troops in Hiiraan depended on them, they carried the burden. When they faltered, it meant the government had also faltered.”

Karore credited the fighters with confronting al-Shabaab “with courage,” saying they sacrificed “blood and wealth” to defend their land. But he stressed that local communities cannot sustain the fight alone and now “deserve real support” from national authorities and other Somalis.

The Ma’awiisleey, meaning “men in sarongs,” emerged in 2022 after al-Shabaab intensified assassinations of elders, extortion of farmers and restrictions on trade in Hiiraan. Their uprising, backed initially by Somali National Army units and allied clan militias, liberated dozens of towns and villages. President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud hailed the movement as a symbol of his declared “total war” against the insurgents.

Despite early gains, the militias have struggled to hold territory as federal follow-through waned. Residents and Hirshabelle officials say limited government assistance left the fighters lightly armed and overstretched, enabling al-Shabaab to retake several areas that had been cleared two years ago.
Source Hiiraan Online