Al-Shabab Militants Attack Somali Military Base

Facts

• Days after Somali government forces reportedly regained control of the area, al-Shabab militants allegedly attacked a military base in the country's central Galgaduud region on Monday.
• Following the explosion of two suicide car bombs and hours of subsequent heavy fighting, the army was able to repulse the attack on the base that houses local and national troops in the village of Qayib.
• According to Somali military officer Ahmed Hassan, "al-Shabaab torched the telecommunication station of the town, and so it is off the air now," adding that one of the car bombs blew up a military truck guarding the entrance while the other blew up outside. Hassan said it's not immediately clear how many people were killed.
• However, al-Shabab spokesperson Abdiasis Abu Musab claimed the group killed 37 government soldiers and stole military weapons and vehicles. This comes after Somali forces, backed by clan militias, have reportedly made numerous battlefield gains in the last three months, regaining territory long held by al-Shabab.
• The latest news comes after twin car bombings by al-Shabaab targeting the Ministry of Education in the capital, Mogadishu, killed 100 people and injured 300 in late October. It was the Islamist extremists' deadliest attack in five years.
• The al-Qaeda-allied group has been fighting the Somali government for over a decade. Though it was driven out of the capital Mogadishu by African Union peacekeepers in 2011, it still controls areas of the Somali countryside.

Sources: Reuters, Al Jazeera, Mehr, CBS, and News 24.

Narratives

• Pro-establishment narrative, as provided by AirForce Times. As al-Shabab continues its terror campaign against the people of Somalia, the government has had no choice but to enlist the help of its Western allies. In response to heinous attacks like these, the US has and must continue fighting back via troops on the ground and airstrikes from above.
• Establishment-critical narrative, as provided by Grayzone. Before the 2006 US and UK-backed Ethiopian invasion of Somalia that sent the country into a death spiral, al-Shabab was a non-violent political party. In pursuit of expanding its military presence everywhere, the West — with Pres. Hassan Sheikh Mohamud as its proxy — has yet again helped cause the problems it's now trying to "fix." The last thing needed is more Western meddling.