Authorities in southwest Somalia say Ethiopia has deployed hundreds of troops to Somalia's Gedo region to prevent al-Shabaab militants from invading Ethiopia. Ali Yussuf Abdullahi, spokesman for Ged's regional administration, said Ethiopian forces had been in the area since last weekend and were setting up bases in and around the border town of Dolow. rice field.
Ali Abdullahi, also known as his Juba, said by phone Monday that he spoke with VOA that about 2,000 troops had been deployed to fight al-Shabaab militants. national borders.
Abdullahi said he wanted to inform the people of Somalia of the new problems emerging from the ongoing al-Shabaab in Hiran, Bacol and Ged. Abdullahi said Ged government officials were affected by a new attack by a terrorist group on the border with Ethiopia. Al-Shabaab militants are encroaching on the border as security deteriorates, he said, requiring cooperation with Ethiopia. So new troops have arrived and are staying in and around Drow, he said.
A regional expert said al-Shabaab wanted to establish a presence in Ethiopia.
Meanwhile, Abdullahi said in his VOA that Ethiopian airstrikes had hit several al-Shabaabs in the Ged region, including near Qabas, where al-Shabaab militants were gathering to launch an attack on Ethiopia. said to have attacked the position of He said the airstrikes were carried out in cooperation with the Ethiopian military and Somali Jubarand state authorities.
The Somali federal government was asked if it was aware that a new non-African Union mission force from Ethiopia had arrived in the region.
Ethiopian military deployments in Somalia indicate that Ethiopian forces have deployed more than 800 al-Shabaab fighters in response to rare cross-border attacks. This was done after he announced that he had killed
The Ethiopian military also said 24 top al-Shabaab leaders were among those killed in recent operations against terrorist groups. Late last month, hundreds of al-Shabaab fighters crossed the border between Somalia and Ethiopia and clashed with specially trained counter-terrorism forces known as the Liyu Police.
The group entered Ethiopia in several locations from Somalia's border areas of Hiran and Bakur, according to security officials.
According to US estimates, al-Shabaab fighters may have advanced as much as 150 kilometers into Ethiopia before being deterred.
Recently, an analyst from the Horn of Africa told his VOA that internal unrest in Ethiopia and a concentration of troops in the Tigray conflict have created an opportune time for al-Shabaab to strike.
The president of Ethiopia's Somali region announced last week that Ethiopian forces would set up a buffer zone inside Somalia to prevent further al-Shabaab cross-border attacks.
Following recent suspected Ethiopian military airstrikes in the Hiran region, al-Shabaab militants destroyed the antenna of a privately owned telecommunications company in the region.
Al-Shabab has fought the Somali government and his AU peacekeepers since 2007. It also carried out deadly attacks in neighboring Kenya and Uganda.
