MOGADISHU, April 4 (Xinhua) -- Somali security forces, backed by international partners, killed nine al-Shabaab militants during coordinated operations in southern Somalia, officials said Saturday.
The National Intelligence and Security Agency (NISA) said the operations in the town of Kunyo Barrow and the Tugarey area of the Lower Shabelle region also destroyed six generators that the militants were using to make mines and explosives.
"Such planned operations are part of ongoing efforts to destroy terrorist bases and disrupt the group's activities in order to prevent terrorist attacks," NISA said in a statement.
NISA said the first operation in Kunyo Barrow targeted an al-Shabaab facility that housed large machines used to manufacture mines and explosives, where six terrorists were killed.
It added that three other terrorists, who were found hiding in the forest, were killed in an operation in the Tugarey area.
The al-Shabaab extremist group was driven out of the capital, Mogadishu, in 2011, but the militants are still hiding in rural areas, where they continue to carry out ambushes and plant landmines. ■
