Somalia has launched what is being called the most significant military offensive against the al-Shabab extremist group in more than a decade.
. Over the years, countries from Turkey to China to those in the European Union have invested in military training and other counterterrorism support.
Somalia's government has claimed more than 1,200 militants have been killed since August, according to a database kept by International Crisis Group analyst Omar Mahmood. Such claims can't be verified.. As animals and crops wither and die and millions of people go hungry, Somalis who flee al-Shabab-held communities have described the extremists’ harsh taxation demands.
Tuuryare described a bloody battle last year over the Masjid Ali-Gadud community in which he estimated 200 al-Shabab fighters and “many” soldiers were killed. It took time to persuade wary residents to return to a community so tightly controlled that even Quranic schools were closed. Only centers for training bombers and fighters functioned.
Still, security was good: “For instance, when a prayer is called, everyone goes toward the mosque without closing their properties. Nobody can touch them. If anyone is found stealing, he or she will face amputation of a limb or limbs,” Hussein said. “If all this goes wrong and happens to come back, it won’t be easy to reorganize,” Tuuryare said. He expressed his wish for more U.S. military support, including further drone strikes against al-Shabab, and a U.S. campaign at the U.N. Security Council to lift an arms embargo on Somalia for easier access to heavy weapons.
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