section_path: History/2022–present: Retaliation
section_name: 2022–present: Retaliation
paragraph_text: 2022–present: Retaliation
  
  In August 2022, Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud declared "total war" against Al Shabaab during a televised address after the group carried out a deadly hotel attack in Mogadishu and also announced that the Somalia military had regained territory from al Shabaab in the central Galmudug state and Southwest state. By September 2022 Somali and ATMIS offensive operations against al-Shabaab, with U.S. support, would escalate to the highest point in five years. The operation, which is considered a combined Somali-ATMIS offensive, began in August 2022 and, with assistance from U.S. airstrikes, has been focused on disrupting al-Shabaab activity in Somalia's central Hiraan region. Other Al Shabaab-controlled areas in southern Somalia have been targeted by the Somalia military as well. On 20 September 2022, as the military operation progressed, a statement was released by the Somali Ministry of Information which revealed that President Sheikh would not offer any other option than surrender for al-Shabaab members.
  
  On 29 October, 2022, al-Shabaab took responsibility for a twin car bombing that occurred in Mogadishu targeting the Ministry of Education. The attacks killed 121 people and injured 333, making it the deadliest at the time since 2017.
  
  On 26 May, 2023, al-Shabaab claimed responsibility for an attack that reportedly killed 137 soldiers in the Buulo Mareer base, just 75 mi (121 km) south-west of the capital Mogadishu. Meanwhile, Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni stated that the number is closer to 54 African Union peacekeepers stationed in Somalia.
  
  Al-Shabaab launched an attack on El Dher district on 8 June, 2024. Militants attacked two military bases using car bombs and then overran at least one of them. The army then launched a counterattack with coordinated airstrikes, as well as an ambush on the militants from a neighbouring town, forcing them to retreat. The Somali government stated that they killed at least 47 militants and suffered 5 casualties, including two colonels, though al-Shabaab claimed to have killed 59 soldiers.
  
  On 2 August, 2024, an attack carried out by al-Shabaab at a beach restaurant in Mogadishu killed at least 37 civilians and injured 212, with 11 in critical condition. Police spokesperson Abdifatah Aden reported that one soldier died in the assault, one attacker blew himself up, three were killed by security forces, and one was captured. Later that August, more than 20 people were killed in a bombing in a Mogadishu tea shop.
  
  In December 2024, the UN Security Council approved a resolution to establish the African Union Support and Stabilization Mission in Somalia (Aussom), a streamlined successor to the African Union Transition Mission in Somalia (Atmis), which ends in 2024. Aussom will deploy up to 12,626 personnel to support Somalia's fight against the al-Shabaab insurgency.
  
  On 26 December 2024, the militant group of al-Shabaab confirmed the death of Mohamed Mire Jama, a senior leader of the group, who had been designated as a terrorist by the United States, in an American drone strike near Kunyo Barrow of the Lower Shabelle region in the South West State of Somalia.
  
  On 20 February 2025, al-Shabaab launched attacks on several villages and military bases in the Middle Shabelle and Hiran region causing the deaths of 130 al-Shabaab militants and dozens of Somali soldiers.