United Nations Mission in Somalia, which supports a 19,000-member African Union peacekeeping mission in Somalia, condemned the attack and demanded that those responsible be brought to justice.
Shabab was expelled from the capital, Mogadishu, in 2011, but still retains control of large areas of rural Somalia, exerting influence through extortion and ties to the business community, even in places where he does not control the territory.
The imminent withdrawal of US troops has encouraged Shababul to intensify its attacks, said Matt Bryden of Sahan Research, a research consultancy specializing in the Horn of Africa. “Of course Shabab is intensifying it to show that it exists,” he said.
Although U.S. drone strikes and raids by special operations forces inside Somalia are likely to continue after the withdrawal, the withdrawal will have the greatest effect on Danab, a 1,000-person Somali unit whose troops usually operate with close US support.
“Without guidance, you can already see how they are used for non-terrorist purposes, such as standing in line for the prime minister,” Mr Bryden said. “And now two of their commanders have been killed.”
Although Shabab is fighting in most of Somalia, he has made attacks in other parts of East Africa and has certain ambitions to hit the United States. This week, Manhattan prosecutors accused Cholo Abdi Abdullah, a Shabab agent in Kenya, of plotting a 9/11 attack on an American city.
Prosecutors say Mr Abdullah, acting under the orders of the same Shabab commander who created an attack on a Kenyan hotel in 2019, was arrested while training in the Philippines to hijack a plane and fly it into a building in the United States. US.
Hussein Mohammed contributed to the reporting in Mogadishu, Somalia.