​Anti-militant raids in central Somalia, landmine attacks in Galgala

GAROWE, Somalia-Somali government forces aided by African Union peacekeepers have tightened the noose on Al Shabaab militants, taking back new areas on Wednesday, State-run station, Radio Mogadishu has reported.

Several villages near Galad have been recaptured, said national army commander Ahmed Mohamed Taredishe.

There have been no direct confrontations between squeezing allied forces and fleeing militants in the fresh anti-militant offensives in central Galgadud region.

Commanders in charge of the operations requested the locals to report any harmful activity for response, and share information with security forces.

The liberation of new areas comes two days after the federal government put top colonel Mohamed KariyeArale behind bars for alleged role in the murder of former Al Shabaab official in Beledweyne.

--Landmine attacks in Puntland

Meanwhile in Somalia’s northeastern State of Puntland, suspected Al Shabaab assailants laid a minefield to target armored vehicles in restive Galgala.

Puntlad Information Minister Mohamud Hassan So’adde denied that four soldiers were wounded in two separate landmine explosions, saying only two soldiers are being treated at a hospital in Bossaso port city.

So’adde was responding to earlier reports circulated in the media amidst stalled onslaughts on hideouts along Golis Mountain Ranges.

Medics however tell GO that one of the four soldiers targeted in the terror attack is in critical condition.

Blasts occurred after armored vehicles waded unknowingly into mines planted in a road frequented by troops.

On May 26, two Puntland soldiers were killed and three others injured while defusing mine in Galgala.

Puntland has not taken on Al Shabaab militants for months in sporadic clean-up exercises off and on hampered by bad weather and difficult topography.

GAROWEONLINE