Somalian soldiers attend a military training given by the Turkish Armed Forces's Somalia Turkish Task Force Command at the Anatolian Barracks on the coast of the Indian Ocean in Mogadishu, Somalia on May 25, 2022 [Erçin Ertürk - Anadolu Agency]

Backed by locals, elite Somali forces killed more than 100 members of the Al Qaeda-affiliated terror group Al-Shabaab, the country's Defence Ministry said on Friday, Anadolu News Agency reports.

Ministry spokesman, Abdullahi Ali Anod told reporters that two units of the elite Danab, or lightning brigade, troops with the support of, local militia forces known as "Macwisley," engaged Al-Shabaab in an operation since early Thursday.

The operation, which involved airstrikes, took place near the town of Adanyabal in the Horn of Africa country's Middle Shabelle region.

Anad said a large number of Al-Shabaab insurgents tried to defend the town but lost over 100 members on a single front.

The military has been conducting operations against the terror group since President Hassan Sheikh Mahamud declared an "all-out war" against it earlier this week, after a devastating twin car bombing that killed over 100 people in the capital, Mogadishu.

Al-Shabaab claimed responsibility for the deadly attack, which also wounded 320 others.

Experts believe the local forces that have been fighting alongside the country's army are playing "significant" role against Al-Shabaab.

READ: EU condemns Al-Shabaab attack in Somalia

Ali Kulow, a former police officer now serving as a security analyst in Mogadishu, told Anadolu Agency that local militia forces helped the government reclaim strategic towns in its recent offensives in parts of the country.

"This militia, that has proven itself a fighting force, is seen by many in the country as a revolutionary force capable of defeating Al-Shabaab if they receive logistical support and strategic military planning," said Kulow.

He underlined that the militia knew the countryside better than anybody and had the support of the local population in terms of gathering intelligence on Al-Shabaab in the area.

"The government should use the anger and dedication towards Al-Shabaab because these people witness the real brutality and money extortion of Al-Shabaab. So, I can see a real opportunity here and the government should organise and use them and then integrate them into the national army," he added.

Somalia has been grappling with security threats for years, with Al-Shabaab being one of its main concerns.

Since 2007, the terror group has fought the Somali government and international forces in a deadly campaign that has claimed thousands of lives.

The UN has warned of growing instability in the country, with its periodic reports on Somalia this year detailing attacks by Al-Shabaab and groups aligned with the Daesh terrorist organisation.

At least 1,242 civilians were killed in terrorist attacks in Somalia in 2018-2019, while 1,735 were injured, according to UN figures. MEMO(Middle East Monitor

Raila Odinga’s Spokesman Prof. Makau Mutua now says the battle for the August presidential election won by William Ruto is still on.

Mutua said Odinga has never conceded and declared that the battle is still on.

“No one should imagine that the Kenyan presidential election is over we’ve never conceded anything. Stay tuned,” he tweeted without elaborating.

The surpise sentiments follows a challenge filed at the East African Court of Justice by Raila’s running mate Martha Karua.

Odinga lost to Ruto in a narrow victory which he challenged at the Supreme Court which dismissed the case for lack of evidence.

In Karua’s petition at the Arusha, Tanzania-based court, she accused the Kenyan court of undermining “the rule of law by violating the right to a fair trial”.

In the petition filed on Thursday, Karua, who is one of Kenya’s best-known lawyers, urged the regional court to order Kenyan authorities to conduct “transparent, independent, and professional investigations into all (the) violations” allegedly committed by the election commission and the country’s top court.

But the Supreme Court delivered a unanimous verdict in favour of Ruto, saying there was no evidence to back Odinga’s claims.

Observers had feared that the disputed outcome could fuel violence in a country with a history of post-poll unrest, but voting day passed off peacefully. 

The East African Court of Justice came into force in 2001 to ensure adherence to the laws establishing the seven-nation East African Community bloc, made up of Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, South Sudan, Tanzania, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda.

No Kenyan presidential election result has ever gone uncontested, with Odinga alleging fraud and hacking of the election commission’s servers.  By Vilenta Wakwelo, Capital News

Photo Courtesy Sky News

The lower house of the French parliament was suspended on Thursday after a far-right MP shouted "go back to Africa" at a black politician.

Carlos Martens Bilongo had been challenging the centrist government over a maritime rescue boat carrying hundreds of passengers in the Mediterranean that has not received an assigned port.

The outburst came from Gregoire de Fournas, a 37-year-old member of Marine Le Pen's National Rally, who said later that his words were not aimed at Mr Martens Bilongo, but at migrants trying to reach Europe by sea.

Other MPs had shouted angrily at him and each other after he had spoken. 

Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne said: "There is no room for racism in our democracy.

"The Bureau of the National Assembly will convene and should decide on the necessary sanction."

Stephane Sejourne, who leads President Emmanuel Macron's centrist party, called for Mr de Fournas to resign, while the left-wing Nupes alliance said he should be expelled.

"The National Rally has shown its true face today," Nupes said in a statement.

"This racist slur is characteristic of the far-right: stigmatise according to the colour of your skin, divide the French people."

But Ms Le Pen insisted that her colleague said nothing wrong, adding that he "obviously spoke about the migrants transported in boats.

"The controversy created by our political opponents... will not deceive the French."

Mr Martens Bilongo, a 31-year-old who was a teacher and activist before entering politics, responded to the incident by saying: "I asked a question to the government, as is done every week in the Assembly.

"Except that I couldn't get to the end of my question, because a deputy from the National Rally interrupted me by shouting at me 'Go back to Africa!'

"I didn't think I would ever hear these words in the National Assembly. But racism always catches up, even in the most prestigious places of the republic."

The French-born politician said that even if the words were aimed at the migrants rather than him, they would still have been "unjustifiable", adding: "Has racism become so commonplace that this sentence has become acceptable?"

"This episode reminds us of what the far-right is in France: the contempt for institutions and the detestation of millions of our French compatriots.

"This Thursday, I had invited children from my constituency to the Assembly so that they could attend my question to the government, with a certain pride.

"I'm thinking about them. It is for them that I will continue to exercise my mandate, without ever having to justify myself on the colour of my skin.

"And so that finally, they can live free of the racism that, by dint of complacency, is progressing in this country." Sky News/Yahoo News