Monitoring Desk
ISLAMABAD/MOGADISHU: Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, President of Somalia, on Saturday urged the people to help flush out members of the Al-Shabab jihadist group he described as “bedbugs.”
Hassan Sheikh addressed large crowds at a government-organized rally against the Al-Qaeda-linked militant group held at a stadium in the capital Mogadishu under security.
According to the AP, he said that “I am calling to you, the citizens of Mogadishu, the Kharijites (renegades) are among you, so flush them out. They are in your homes, your neighbors, and in cars that pass you by.”
Flush 0ut Al-Shabab ‘Bedbugs’
Sheikh also said that I want us to commit today to flush them out; they are like bedbugs under our clothes, as demonstrators waved flags or placards with anti-Al-Shabab messages.
Al-Shabab has waged a bloody insurgency against the frail globally-backed central government for fifteen years, carrying out attacks in Somalia and neighboring countries that sent troops to help fight against the militants.
Hassan Sheikh said that the people are tired of massacres, killings, and all kinds of misdeeds, and they are now saying to Al-Shabab: Enough is enough.
The president declared an “all-out” war against Islamist fighters shortly after he came to office in May the previous year.
The army and local clan militias group have retaken swathes of territory in the center of the country in operation backed by US air strikes and the African Union force.
But the insurgents have frequently retaliated with bloody attacks, underlining their ability to strike at the heart of Somali towns and army installations despite the offensive.
Although forced out of Mogadishu and other leading urban centers more than a decade ago, Al-Shabab remains entrenched in parts of rural central and southern Somalia.
