Over 150 members of the al-Qaeda-affiliated extremist group, Al-Shabaab, were killed by Ethiopian forces during a fight near the Somalia border on Friday, 29 July. This is the most recent development in the conflict in Ethiopia where the government has tried to tame the rising insurgency. But simultaneously, the government is dealing with paramilitary groups in two parts of the country and negotiating a peace treaty in a third region.
Tesfaye Ayalew, an Ethiopian army general, reported the attack to the Ethiopian News Agency, “The terrorist group regrouped its scattered forces (last night) and tried to infiltrate into Ethiopia and carry out (an) attack in the area bordering Somalia with Ethiopia.”
Reportedly, al-Shabaab has attempted, for several years, to set up a base in Ethiopia. Al-Shabaab claimed that they had killed 103 Ethiopian police and had taken over the town of Aato, earlier in the day on Friday. An Ethiopian commander rejected these claims by al-Shabaab, saying that 14 Ethiopian fighters were killed and that the town of Aato was still under Ethiopian control.