Overview
- Government forces say they repelled a dawn assault on Baidoa Thursday, reporting explosions and heavy gunfire that eased by early afternoon as troops began patrolling the city.
- Somalia’s Defence Ministry accused militias loyal to former South West State president Abdiaziz Laftagareen of mounting the attack and said those fighters operated with the al‑Qaida‑linked group al‑Shabab.
- Bay Regional Hospital reported receiving 24 wounded patients and one dead civilian from the fighting, and ambulances and medical staff treated victims after clashes subsided.
- The government said it had inflicted heavy losses on the attackers but that an official tally of fighter casualties is still under way and independent verification of the scale of fighting remains limited.
- Baidoa is a major humanitarian and administrative hub that hosts hundreds of thousands of displaced people, so renewed violence threatens health services, food access and the broader security of South West State following federal forces’ takeover in March.