At least 250 al-Shabab fighters were killed during a failed assault on the coastal town of Kudhaa in Somalia’s Lower Juba region.
Mogadishu (Somali Report) — At least 250 al-Shabab fighters were killed during a failed assault on the coastal town of Kudhaa in Somalia’s Lower Juba region, a local official said Saturday.
The governor of Badhaadhe district, Hassan Nur Abdi, said Somali government forces and their allies inflicted the losses after repelling a coordinated al-Shabab attack on Kudhaa Island and nearby areas.
“The enemy attacked us and we pushed them back decisively,” Abdi said. “The confirmed death toll among al-Shabab fighters is now 250. Additional bodies are still being recovered, but this figure has been verified.”
Abdi said eight militants were captured during the fighting and at least eight combat vehicles used by the group were destroyed. He described the losses as severe and said they would significantly weaken al-Shabab’s operational capacity in Jubbaland.
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“The Khawarij have suffered a crushing blow here,” he said, using a term Somali officials commonly apply to al-Shabab. “I do not believe they will be able to return to Jubbaland areas in the near future.”
The fighting followed what officials described as a large-scale al-Shabab assault aimed at overrunning Kudhaa, a strategic coastal location in Lower Juba. Somali forces, including elite Danab special units and Jubbaland security forces, responded with sustained ground operations, backed by international partners, officials said.
Authorities said pursuit operations are continuing in surrounding areas to prevent surviving fighters from regrouping or launching follow-up attacks. Abdi said the security situation in Kudhaa has stabilized and that civilians displaced by the fighting have begun returning to their homes.
Al-Shabab has not commented on the reported casualty figures. The al-Qaida-linked group routinely carries out complex attacks against military targets in southern Somalia but rarely acknowledges losses, particularly on this scale.
The battle for Kudhaa comes as Somali authorities intensify military operations across Lower and Middle Juba, regions long used by al-Shabab as staging grounds for attacks and supply routes. The government says the campaign is aimed at dismantling remaining militant strongholds and securing key coastal and rural areas as part of a broader effort to weaken the insurgency.
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