MOGADISHU (Somaliguardian) – A delegation of top Ethiopian military officials arrived in the central Somalia town of Baladwayne on Monday, days after Al-Qaeda-aligned militant group Al-Shabaab killed dozens of soldiers in cross-border attacks.
The head of deployment department for the Ethiopian Defense Forces Tesfaye Ayalew was leading the delegation that landed at the city’s Ugas Khalif Airport. They have later been escorted to Junta Kundisho, a military base manned by Ethiopian troops outside Baladwayne.
The officials are expected to hold talks with regional Somali officials, who have recently accused Ethiopia of expansionism and of capturing territory belonging to Somalia.
It comes days after the President of Ethiopia’s Somali region Mustafe Agjar said Addis Ababa would annex parts of Somalia to create a “security buffer zone” aimed at countering terror attacks.
Al-Shabaab armed group in Somalia carried out a number of cross-border attacks over the past weeks, in which it claimed to have killed hundreds of Ethiopian soldiers. There were reports that militants crossed the border into Ethiopia, though the group has not yet commented on the assertions.
Ethiopian military has conducted air strikes this week in the regions of Bakol and Hiran. A woman living in a rural area outside the town of Hudur was killed in one of the air raids. Though exact number of casualties still remains unknown.
Contact us: info@somaliguardian.com
