Trump, Biden vie to show leadership on 9/11 anniversary, as Covid-19 changes tribute traditions

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People place flowers on the names of victims at the edge of the South pool during ceremonies on the 19th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center at the 911 Memorial in the Manhattan borough of New York City, New York, US, Sept. 11, 2020. (Reuters)
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Updated 30 September 2020
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Trump, Biden vie to show leadership on 9/11 anniversary, as Covid-19 changes tribute traditions

  • Trump and Biden successively attended a ceremony in Shanksville, Pennsylvania
  • New York memorial was scaled back due to COVID-19, but some traditions were observed

WASHINGTON: Americans commemorated 9/11 Friday as another national crisis reconfigured memorial ceremonies, dividing some victims’ families over coronavirus safety precautions, and a presidential campaign carved a path through the observances.
In New York, victims’ relatives gathered Friday morning for split-screen remembrances at the World Trade Center’s Sept. 11 memorial plaza and on a nearby corner, set up by separate organizations.
Standing on the plaza, with its serene waterfall pools and groves of trees, Jin Hee Cho said she could not erase the memory of the death of her younger sister, Kyung, in the collapse of the trade center’s north tower.
“It’s just hard to delete that in my mind. I understand there’s all this, and I understand now that we have even COVID,” said Cho, 55. “But I only feel the loss, the devastating loss of my flesh-and-blood sister.”
The ruins of the shattered World Trade Center have since been replaced by a glittering $25 billion complex that includes three skyscrapers, a museum and the memorial with the goal that it would be again be an international hub of commerce.




Flowers are placed at the 9/11 Memorial & Museum in New York on Sept. 11, 2020, as the US commemorates the 19th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. (AFP)

But the pandemic has rendered it somewhat of a ghost town, adding an eerie quality to the commemoration of the attack, with office workers staying home and tourists avoiding the memorial site.
Around the country, some communities canceled 9/11 ceremonies, while others went ahead, sometimes with modifications. The Pentagon’s observance was so restricted that not even victims’ families could attend, though small groups could visit its memorial later in the day.
On an anniversary that fell less than two months before the presidential election, President Donald Trump and Democratic challenger Joe Biden both headed for the Flight 93 National Memorial in the election battleground state of Pennsylvania — at different times of day. Biden also attended the ceremony at ground zero in New York, exchanging an elbow bump with Vice President Mike Pence before the observance began.
In short, the 19th anniversary of the deadliest terror attack on US soil was a complicated occasion in a maelstrom of a year, as the US grapples with a pandemic, searches its soul over racial injustice and prepares to choose a leader to chart a path forward.

Still, families say it’s important for the nation to pause and remember the hijacked-plane attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people at the trade center, at the Pentagon outside Washington and in a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, on Sept. 11, 2001 — shaping American policy, perceptions of safety and daily life in places from airports to office buildings.
“People could say, ‘Oh, 19 years.’ But I’ll always be doing something this day. It’s history,” said Annemarie D’Emic, who lost her brother Charles Heeran, a stock trader. She went to the alternative ceremony in New York, which kept up the longstanding tradition of in-person readers.
Speaking at the Pennsylvania memorial, Trump, who did not attend the ceremony in his home city and sent Pence in his stead, recalled how the plane’s crew and passengers tried to storm the cockpit as the hijackers as headed for Washington.
“The heroes of Flight 93 are an everlasting reminder that no matter the danger, no matter the threat, no matter the odds, America will always rise up, stand tall, and fight back,” the Republican president said.




US President Donald Trump speaks at a 19th anniversary observance of the Sept. 11 terror attacks, at the Flight 93 National Memorial in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, Friday, Sept. 11, 2020. (AP)

Trump and his wife Melania listened in silence as the names of the 40 passengers and crew killed aboard Flight 93 were read aloud — with two bells tolling after the reading of each one.
In brief prepared remarks, the incumbent — who is hoping to defeat Biden and win a second term — paid “tribute to their sacrifice” along with all those who perished in the attacks.
“The only thing that stood between the enemy and a deadly strike at the heart of American democracy was the courage and resolve of 40 men and women – the amazing passengers and crew of Flight 93,” Trump told the crowd, adding “America will never relent in pursuing terrorists that threaten our people.”
He also honored first responders as well as military personnel who fought to “preserve our freedom” in the subsequent wars launched under former president George W. Bush.
“We resolve to stand united as one American nation, to defend our freedoms, to uphold our values, to love our neighbors, to cherish our country.... and to never, ever forget,” Trump said.




US President Donald Trump places a wreath at a 19th anniversary observance of the Sept. 11 terror attacks, at the Flight 93 National Memorial in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, Friday, Sept. 11, 2020. (AP)

It was a rare call for unity from a leader who normally plays political divisions to his advantage.
Biden, who did not cross paths with Trump, visited the memorial later Friday, laid a wreath and greeted relatives of one of the slain crew members, First Officer LeRoy Homer.




US Democratic presidential nominee and former Vice President Joe Biden and his wife, Jill, greet family members of victims after laying a wreath in front of her brother, Leroy Homers name at the Wall of Names following a ceremony at the Flight 93 National Memorial commemorating the 19th Anniversary of the crash of Flight 93 and the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2020 in Shanksville, Pennsylvania. (Getty Images/AFP)

Biden pledged not to make any news during the day with the Nov. 3 election now less than two months away.
“I’m not going to talk about anything other than 9/11. We took all our advertising down. It’s a solemn day, and that’s how we’re going to keep it, okay?,” Biden said.

At the Sept. 11 memorial in New York hours earlier, Biden offered condolences to victims’ relatives including Amanda Barreto, 27, who lost her aunt and godmother in the attacks. She said Biden “wanted to let me know to keep the faith” and told her he understood what it meant to lose a loved one. His first wife and their daughter died in a car crash, and his son Beau died of brain cancer.
Biden didn’t speak at the ceremony, which has a longstanding custom of not allowing politicians to make remarks and reserves that privilege to the close ones of victims.




US Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden prays as he attends the 19th September 11 commemoration ceremony at the National Memorial & Museum in New York, Sept. 11, 2020. (AFP)

Biden then tweeted: “As a nation, we must never forget those we lost on 9/11 and the incredible bravery of our first responders. Though the wounds of that day will never fully heal, the spirit of Americans recovered as it always does — unbowed by the efforts of those who strike against it.”

In addition to stopping by the official Ground Zero museum ceremony, Pence attended another nearby commemoration organized by the Stephen Siller Tunnel to Towers Foundation, where some 100 relatives gathered to read the names of love ones they lost.
The vice president delivered a brief address and his wife, Karen, read a well-known verse from the Bible.
“For the families of the lost and friends they left behind, I pray these ancient words will comfort your heart and others,” said the vice president, drawing applause from the audience of roughly 200.
Formed in honor of a firefighter killed on 9/11, the foundation felt in-person readers were crucial to the ceremony’s emotional impact and could recite names while keeping a safe distance. By contrast, recorded names emanated from speakers placed around the memorial plaza. Leaders said they wanted to keep readers and listeners from clustering at a stage.
As in past years on the plaza, many readers at the alternative ceremony added poignant tributes to their loved ones’ character and heroism, urged the nation not to forget the attacks and recounted missed family milestones: “How I wish you could walk me down the aisle in just three weeks,” Kaitlyn Strada said of her father, Thomas, a bond broker.




Family members of victims sits along the edge of the South pool during ceremonies marking the 19th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center at the 911 Memorial in the Manhattan borough of New York City, New York, US, Sept. 11, 2020. (Reuters)

One reader thanked essential workers for helping New York City endure the pandemic, which has killed at least 24,000 people in the city and over 190,000 nationwide. Another reader, Catherine Hernandez, said she became a police officer to honor her family’s loss.
Other victims’ relatives, however, weren’t bothered by the switch to a recording at the ground zero ceremony.
“I think it should evolve. It can’t just stay the same forever,” said Frank Dominguez, who lost his brother, Police Officer Jerome Dominguez.




The ringing of bells as names are called during a ceremony at the Flight 93 National Memorial commemorating the 19th anniversary of the crash of Flight 93 and the September 11th terrorist attacks in Shanksville, Pennsylvania. (Getty Images/AFP)

The Sept. 11 memorial and the Tunnel to Towers foundation also tussled over the Tribute in Light, a pair of powerful beams that shine into the night sky near the trade center, evoking its fallen twin towers. The 9/11 memorial initially canceled the display, citing virus safety concerns for the installation crew. After the foundation vowed to put up the lights instead, the memorial changed course with help from its chair, former Mayor Mike Bloomberg, and Gov. Andrew Cuomo.
Tunnel to Towers, meanwhile, arranged to display single beams for the first time at the Shanksville memorial and the Pentagon.
Over the years, the anniversary also has become a day for volunteering. Because of the pandemic, the 9/11 National Day of Service and Remembrance organization is encouraging people this year to make donations or take other actions from home.

 

 

 

 

 

(With AP, AFP and Reuters)


Trump to put 25 percent tariffs on Japan and South Korea, new import taxes on 12 other nations.

Updated 7 sec ago
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Trump to put 25 percent tariffs on Japan and South Korea, new import taxes on 12 other nations.

  • Trump has also said on social media that countries aligned with the policy goals of BRICS, an organization composed of Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, Egypt, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Iran and the UAE, would face additional tariffs of 10 percent

WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump on Monday set a 25 percent tax on goods imported from Japan and South Korea, as well as new tariff rates on a dozen other nations that would go into effect on Aug. 1.
Trump provided notice by posting letters on Truth Social that were addressed to the leaders of the various countries. The letters warned them to not retaliate by increasing their own import taxes, or else the Trump administration would further increase tariffs.
“If for any reason you decide to raise your Tariffs, then, whatever the number you choose to raise them by, will be added onto the 25 percent that we charge,” Trump wrote in the letters to Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba and South Korean President Lee Jae-myung.
The letters were not the final word from Trump on tariffs, so much as another episode in a global economic drama in which he has placed himself at the center. His moves have raised fears that economic growth would slow to a trickle, if not make the US and other nations more vulnerable to a recession. But Trump is confident that tariffs are necessary to bring back domestic manufacturing and fund the tax cuts he signed into law last Friday.
He mixed his sense of aggression with a willingness to still negotiate, signaling the likelihood that the drama and uncertainty would continue and that few things are ever final with Trump.
Imports from Myanmar and Laos would be taxed at 40 percent, Cambodia and Thailand at 36 percent, Serbia and Bangladesh at 35 percent, Indonesia at 32 percent, South Africa and Bosnia and Herzegovina at 30 percent and Kazakhstan, Malaysia and Tunisia at 25 percent.
Trump placed the word “only” before revealing the rate in his letters to the foreign leaders, implying that he was being generous with his tariffs. But the letters generally followed a standard format, so much so that the one to Bosnia and Herzegovina initially addressed its woman leader, Željka Cvijanović, as “Mr. President.” Trump later posted a corrected letter.
Trade talks have yet to deliver several deals
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said that Trump was by setting the rates himself creating “tailor-made trade plans for each and every country on this planet and that’s what this administration continues to be focused on.”
Following a now well-worn pattern, Trump plans to continue sharing the letters sent to his counterparts on social media and then mail them the documents, a stark departure from the more formal practices of all his predecessors when negotiating trade agreements.
The letters are not agreed-to settlements but Trump’s own choice on rates, a sign that the closed-door talks with foreign delegations failed to produce satisfactory results for either side.
Wendy Cutler, vice president of the Asia Society Policy Institute who formerly worked in the office of the US Trade Representative, said the tariff hikes on Japan and South Korea were “unfortunate.”
“Both have been close partners on economic security matters and have a lot to offer the United States on priority matters like shipbuilding, semiconductors, critical minerals and energy cooperation,” Cutler said.
Trump still has outstanding differences on trade with the European Union and India, among other trading partners. Tougher talks with China are on a longer time horizon in which imports from that nation are being taxed at 55 percent.
The office of South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said in a statement that the tariff rates announced by Trump mischaracterized the trade relationship with the US, but it would “continue with its diplomatic efforts toward a more balanced and mutually beneficial trade relationship with the United States” after having proposed a trade framework on May 20.
Higher tariffs prompt market worries, more uncertainty ahead
The S&P 500 stock index was down 0.8 percent in Monday trading, while the interest charged on 10-year US Treasury notes had increased to nearly 4.39 percent, a figure that could translate into elevated rates for mortgages and auto loans.
Trump has declared an economic emergency to unilaterally impose the taxes, suggesting they are remedies for past trade deficits even though many US consumers have come to value autos, electronics and other goods from Japan and South Korea. The constitution grants Congress the power to levy tariffs under normal circumstances, though tariffs can also result from executive branch investigations regarding national security risks.
Trump’s ability to impose tariffs through an economic emergency is under legal challenge, with the administration appealing a May ruling by the US Court of International Trade that said the president exceeded his authority.
It’s unclear what he gains strategically against China — another stated reason for the tariffs — by challenging two crucial partners in Asia, Japan and South Korea, that could counter China’s economic heft.
“These tariffs may be modified, upward or downward, depending on our relationship with your Country,” Trump wrote in both letters.
Because the new tariff rates go into effect in roughly three weeks, Trump is setting up a period of possibly tempestuous talks among the US and its trade partners to reach new frameworks.
“I don’t see a huge escalation or a walk back — it’s just more of the same,” said Scott Lincicome, a vice president at the Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank
Trump initially roiled the financial markets by announcing tariff rates on dozens of countries, including 24 percent on Japan and 25 percent on South Korea. In order to calm the markets, Trump unveiled a 90-day negotiating period during which goods from most countries were taxed at a baseline 10 percent. So far, the rates in the letters sent by Trump either match his April 2 tariffs or are generally close to them.
The 90-day negotiating period technically ends on Wednesday, even as multiple administration officials suggested the three-week period before implementation is akin to overtime for additional talks that could change the rates. Trump plans to sign an executive order on Monday to delay the official tariff increases until Aug. 1, Leavitt said.
Congressionally approved Trade agreements historically have sometimes taken years to negotiate because of the complexity.
Administration officials have said Trump is relying on tariff revenues to help offset the tax cuts he signed into law on July 4, a move that could shift a greater share of the federal tax burden onto the middle class and poor as importers would likely pass along much of the cost of the tariffs. Trump has warned major retailers such as Walmart to simply “eat” the higher costs, instead of increasing prices in ways that could intensify inflation.
Josh Lipsky, chair of international economics at The Atlantic Council, said that a three-week delay in imposing the tariffs was unlikely sufficient for meaningful talks to take place.
“I take it as a signal that he is serious about most of these tariffs and it’s not all a negotiating posture,” Lipsky said.
Trade gaps persist, more tariff hikes are possible
Trump’s team promised 90 deals in 90 days, but his negotiations so far have produced only two trade frameworks.
His outline of a deal with Vietnam was clearly designed to box out China from routing its America-bound goods through that country, by doubling the 20 percent tariff charged on Vietnamese imports on anything traded transnationally.
The quotas in the signed United Kingdom framework would spare that nation from the higher tariff rates being charged on steel, aluminum and autos, though British goods would generally face a 10 percent tariff.
The United States ran a $69.4 billion trade imbalance in goods with Japan in 2024 and a $66 billion imbalance with South Korea, according to the Census Bureau. The trade deficits are the differences between what the US exports to a country relative to what it imports.
According to Trump’s letters, autos would be tariffed separately at the standard 25 percent worldwide, while steel and aluminum imports would be taxed on 50 percent.
This is not the first time that Trump has tangled with Japan and South Korea on trade — and the new tariffs suggest his past deals made during his first term failed to deliver on his administration’s own hype.
In 2018, during Trump’s first term, his administration celebrated a revamped trade agreement with South Korea as a major win. And in 2019, Trump signed a limited agreement with Japan on agricultural products and digital trade that at the time he called a “huge victory for America’s farmers, ranchers and growers.”
Trump has also said on social media that countries aligned with the policy goals of BRICS, an organization composed of Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, Egypt, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Iran and the United Arab Emirates, would face additional tariffs of 10 percent.
 

 


UN adopts resolution on Afghanistan’s Taliban rule over US objections

Updated 58 min 30 sec ago
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UN adopts resolution on Afghanistan’s Taliban rule over US objections

  • Since returning to power in Afghanistan in 2021, the Taliban have imposed harsh measures, banning women from public places and girls from attending school beyond the sixth grade

UNITED NATIONS: The UN General Assembly adopted a resolution Monday over US objections calling on Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers to reverse their worsening oppression of women and girls and eliminate all terrorist organizations.
The 11-page resolution also emphasizes “the importance of creating opportunities for economic recovery, development and prosperity in Afghanistan,” and urges donors to address the country’s dire humanitarian and economic crisis.
The resolution is not legally binding but is seen as a reflection of world opinion. The vote was 116 in favor, with two — the United States and close ally Israel — opposed and 12 abstentions, including Russia, China, India and Iran.
Since returning to power in Afghanistan in 2021, the Taliban have imposed harsh measures, banning women from public places and girls from attending school beyond the sixth grade. Last week, Russia became the first country to formally recognize the Taliban’s government.
Germany’s UN Ambassador Antje Leendertse, whose country sponsored the resolution, told the assembly before the vote that her country and many others remain gravely concerned about the dire human rights situation in Afghanistan, especially the Taliban’s “near-total erasure” of the rights of women and girls.
The core message of the resolution, she said, is to tell Afghan mothers holding sick and underfed children or mourning victims of terrorist attacks, as well as the millions of Afghan women and girls locked up at home, that they have not been forgotten.
US minister-counselor Jonathan Shrier was critical of the resolution, which he said rewards “the Taliban’s failure with more engagement and more resources.” He said the Trump administration doubts they will ever pursue policies “in accordance with the expectations of the international community.”
“For decades we shouldered the burden of supporting the Afghan people with time, money and, most important, American lives,” he said. “It is the time for the Taliban to step up. The United States will no longer enable their heinous behavior.”
Last month, the Trump administration banned Afghans hoping to resettle in the US permanently and those seeking to come temporarily, with exceptions.
The resolution expresses appreciation to governments hosting Afghan refugees, singling out the two countries that have taken the most: Iran and Pakistan. Shrier also objected to this, accusing Iran of executing Afghans “at an alarming rate without due process” and forcibly conscripting Afghans into its militias.
While the resolution notes improvements in Afghanistan’s overall security situation, it reiterates concern about attacks by Al-Qaeda and Daesh militants and their affiliates. It calls upon Afghanistan “to take active measures to tackle, dismantle and eliminate all terrorist organizations equally and without discrimination.”
The General Assembly also encouraged UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to appoint a coordinator to facilitate “a more coherent, coordinated and structured approach” to its international engagements on Afghanistan.


Epstein died by suicide, did not have ‘client list’: FBI and Justice Department say

Updated 07 July 2025
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Epstein died by suicide, did not have ‘client list’: FBI and Justice Department say

  • A joint memorandum by the FBI and Justice Department on Monday have debunked notable conspiracy theories about Epstein
  • The disgraced US financier died by suicide in a New York prison in 2019 after being charged with sex trafficking

WASHINGTON: Jeffrey Epstein was not murdered, did not blackmail prominent figures and did not keep a “client list,” the FBI and Justice Department said Monday, debunking notable conspiracy theories about the disgraced US financier.
The conclusions came after an “exhaustive review” of the evidence amassed against Epstein, who died by suicide in a New York prison in 2019 after being charged with sex trafficking, the agencies said in a joint memorandum.
Six years later, questions continue to swirl around Epstein’s life and death and the multi-millionaire hedge fund manager’s connections to wealthy and powerful individuals.
The memo, first reported by Axios, squarely rejected one of the leading conspiracy theories surrounding Epstein — that he did not commit suicide but was murdered while being held in jail.
“After a thorough investigation, FBI investigators concluded that Jeffrey Epstein committed suicide in his cell,” it said.
Video footage from the area where he was being held did not show anyone entering or attempting to enter his cell from the time at night when he was locked in till when his body was found the next morning, it said.
Extensive digital and physical searches turned up a large volume of images and videos of Epstein’s victims, many of them underage girls, the memo said.
“This review confirmed that Epstein harmed over one thousand victims,” it said, but did not reveal any illegal wrongdoing by “third-parties.”
“This systematic review revealed no incriminating ‘client list,’” the memo said. “There was also no credible evidence found that Epstein blackmailed prominent individuals as part of his actions.”
Epstein’s former assistant, Ghislaine Maxwell, is the only former associate of his who has been criminally charged in connection with his activities.
Maxwell, the daughter of British media baron Robert Maxwell, is serving a 20-year prison sentence after being convicted in New York in 2021 of child sex trafficking and other crimes.
Among those with connections to Epstein was Britain’s Prince Andrew, who settled a US civil case in February 2022 brought by Virginia Giuffre, who claimed he sexually assaulted her when she was 17.
Giuffre, who accused Epstein of using her as a sex slave, committed suicide at her home in Australia in April.
Billionaire Elon Musk accused President Donald Trump on X last month of being in the “Epstein files” after the pair had a falling out, but he later deleted his posts.
Trump was named in a trove of depositions and statements linked to Epstein that were unsealed by a New York judge in early 2024, but the president has not been accused of any wrongdoing.
Supporters on the conspiratorial end of Trump’s “Make America Great Again” base allege that Epstein’s associates had their roles in his crimes covered up by government officials and others.
They point the finger at Democrats and Hollywood celebrities, although not at Trump himself.
Prior to the release of the memo, Trump’s FBI director, Kash Patel, and the FBI’s deputy director, Dan Bongino, had been among the most prominent peddlers of conspiracy theories surrounding Epstein.


Lula says BRICS do not want ‘emperor’ after Trump threat

Updated 07 July 2025
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Lula says BRICS do not want ‘emperor’ after Trump threat

  • Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva: ‘We are sovereign nations. We don’t want an emperor’

RIO DE JANEIRO: Brazil’s president said Monday that emerging BRICS economies did not want to live under an “emperor,” after Donald Trump declared a 10 percent tariffs hike on members for their allegedly anti-American policies.
“We are sovereign nations,” Lula said as he ended a two day summit of 11 nations that include US allies and foes alike. “We don’t want an emperor.”


Somalia’s army and Al-Shabab clash over strategic town

Updated 07 July 2025
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Somalia’s army and Al-Shabab clash over strategic town

  • The official Somali news agency Sonna said the attack had been prevented, and claimed “several militants were killed during the fighting.” There were no further details

MOGADISHU: Fighting was ongoing between Somalia’s armed forces and the Al-Shabab group over a strategic town in the country’s central region, a local militia commander and elder said on Monday.
Growing attacks by the Al-Qaeda-linked group, including one on President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud’s convoy, are fueling concerns of an extremist resurgence in the Horn of Africa nation after the militants were forced back in recent years.
Al-Shabab militants attacked Moqokori, roughly 300 km north of the capital, Mogadishu, with “vehicles loaded with explosives and hundreds of fighters,” local militia commander Abdulahi Adan said.
The town’s militia had “tactically retreated,” he said, but added that “there is still ongoing sporadic fighting in the area, so that this is not a complete takeover.”
Yusuf Mohamed, an elder in the nearby town of Mahas, said “several wounded soldiers and community militia fighters were brought to Mahas for treatment.”
Moqokori is strategically located as a gateway to several other major towns in the central Hiraan region.
The town has long been contested, with Al-Shabab seizing it in 2016 and last holding it briefly in 2018.
The official Somali news agency Sonna said the attack had been prevented, and claimed “several militants were killed during the fighting.” There were no further details.
It comes only months after Al-Shabab took the town of Adan Yabaal, also in the Hiraan region, and which was used as a base by Somali military commanders.
More than 10,000 soldiers from the African Union Stabilization Mission in Somalia or AUSSOM, are present in the country, but this has not prevented Al-Shabab from continuing to carry out attacks.
At the end of June, at least seven Ugandan soldiers were killed during clashes with Al-Shabab in a town in the Lower Shabelle region.