News / North Africa

Suspected Takfiri militants planning attacks detained by Ethiopian agents

Sunday, 22 September 2019 10:44 AM [ Last Update: Sunday, 22 September 2019 10:44 AM ]

Al-Shabab militants sit outside a building during patrol along the streets of Dayniile district in southern Mogadishu, March 5, 2012. (Photo by Reuters)

Ethiopia said it had arrested an unspecified number of Somali al-Shabab and Daesh militants who were planning to carry out attacks in the country on various targets including hotels.

Some of those arrested were carrying out intelligence work including photographing potential targets, the National Intelligence Security Services (NISS) said in a statement read out on state-affiliated broadcaster Fana.

“The group was ... preparing to attack hotels, religious festivities gathering places and public areas in Addis Ababa,” NISS said.

Ethiopian intelligence coordinated with neighboring Djibouti to detain the suspects including their leader, Muhammed Abdulahi, NISS said.

Those detained, NISS said, were arrested in the capital Addis Ababa, Oromia and Ethiopia’s Somali region.

Al-Shabab has been fighting for years to topple Somalia’s central government, which the African Union-mandated peacekeeping force AMISOM helps to defend.

The militants have carried out numerous attacks in Somalia on military and civilian targets, and have also conducted attacks abroad including in Kenya.

(Source: Reuters)

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