MOGADISHU, Somalia —
The Somali military says it will retaliate for an Al-Shabaab bomb attack that killed at least one person and seriously wounded five others in Buloburde town.
Army commander Mohamed Mumin Elmi said the militant group blew up a newly refurbished airport in Buloburde, located about 425 km west of Mogadishu.
Elmi warned that the military would target the homes of Al-Shabaab members’ families in the Hiran region if the group continued its attacks in Buloburde.
“We will hunt down all militants’ wives and burn their houses down in the Hiran region if the group does not stop its attacks on Buloburde airport,” Elmi said.
Somali army and African Union troops from Djibouti started on Tuesday cleaning up the debris from the bomb attack on the airport.
Al Shabab, an al Qaeda linked group, has been battling Mogadishu-based government and UN-backed African Union mission known as “AMISOM” in Somalia for more than ten years.
The militant group was driven out of the capital Mogadishu in 2011 by Somali army and African Union troops following joint military operations.
The group still controls large swaths of territory in the southern and central regions, from where it is believed to launch deadly attacks against allied forces’ bases and the capital, Mogadishu.
By Abdirisak Mohamud Tuuryare
