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Eight people were killed after militants stormed a hotel in Somalia’s port city of Kismayo, an attack that started with a suicide bombing Sunday before gunmen forcibly entered and exchanged fire with security forces.
The Islamic extremist group al-Shabab claimed responsibility for the attack, saying its fighters had penetrated the Tawakal Hotel.
Sudan’s army said on Wednesday a rebel group that has refused to sign a key peace deal had shelled a town in the southern state of West Kordofan, wounding two officers.
The reported artillery strikes in Lagawa, some 580 km southwest of the capital Khartoum, come after ethnic clashes last week in a land dispute near the town left several people dead.
In Ethiopia, rebels in the northern Tigray region say Ethiopian troops backed by Eritrean soldiers have seized the key city of Shire amid heavy fighting northwest of the Tigrayan capital.
Aid workers report thousands of civilians have begun fleeing the fighting over the weekend amid fears they could face mass killings and sexual violence.
30 al-Shabaab militants were killed in a Somali army operation in Shabelle Central Governorate, in the southeast of the country, as the government forces escalated their operations against the terrorist movement.
The Somali National News Agency reported Saturday that “Somali Security forces took over Hawadley, a strategic village in middle Shabelle region from al-Shabab terrorists, killing 30 terrorists,” including three of the movement’s leaders.
Ethiopia’s Tigray rebels have said they are withdrawing from parts of the neighboring Amhara region, which they entered shortly after renewed hostilities broke out with federal government forces in August.
In a statement, the leadership of the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) described the move as a “tactical” redeployment of its forces and said it was necessary to counter an “invasion” from the north.