Mogadishu (Somalia Today) — Al-Shabaab has for the first time publicly claimed to have used foreign fighters in a major attack in Mogadishu, saying militants from Kenya, Tanzania, and Ethiopia’s Oromia region took part in last year’s assault on one of Somalia’s most sensitive intelligence detention sites.
The claim was made in a propaganda video released in March by the group’s Al-Kataib media arm, revisiting the October 4, 2025, attack on the Godka Jilaow facility, a high-security prison and intelligence site run by Somalia’s National Intelligence and Security Agency (NISA) near the Villa Somalia presidential complex.
The film also identified one of the assailants as a son of Ali Mohamud Rage, better known as Ali Dhere, the group’s longtime spokesman. The identities presented in the footage could not be independently verified.
The October raid was one of the most serious security breaches in the Somali capital last year.
Authorities said at the time that the assault began with a vehicle disguised as one used by the security forces, allowing the attackers to approach the compound before a blast at the entrance and a prolonged exchange of gunfire.
Security officials said all the attackers were killed and the raid was foiled. Ambulance crews reported carrying wounded people to hospitals, but the government said no prisoners escaped and did not confirm any deaths among security forces or civilians.
Contested accounts
Al-Shabaab offered a sharply different version in the new video, saying 42 members of the security forces were killed and detainees were freed from the underground facility.
Those claims remain unverified and stand in direct contradiction to the official government account, which described the operation as a failed assault in which all the attackers were neutralised and the compound remained under state control.
Footage in the video appears to show the attackers travelling through Mogadishu in a vehicle made to resemble those used by NISA, enabling them to pass checkpoints before reaching the prison gates.
The video also includes scenes of the fighters dismounting near the entrance, followed by an explosion at the perimeter and a gun battle that lasted for several hours.
The release appears aimed at reshaping the narrative of an operation that officials portrayed as a security failure for the insurgents. By revisiting the attack months later, the group appeared intent on demonstrating that it could still penetrate one of the capital’s most heavily guarded areas.
A symbolic target
Godka Jilaow carries deep symbolism in Somalia’s conflict. The site has long been associated with intelligence detentions and has previously been targeted by Al-Shabaab.
In 2014, the group carried out a bomb-and-gun assault on the same facility, underscoring its long-standing focus on sites linked to the Somali intelligence apparatus.
The October 2025 attack revived concerns about the vulnerability of a compound meant to represent the state’s most hardened inner defences.
The timing only added to the government’s embarrassment. The raid came just hours after authorities had lifted several long-standing roadblocks in Mogadishu, a move intended to ease traffic and project an image of improving security in the capital.
Instead, militants managed to reach a sensitive compound near the presidency using a disguised vehicle, reinforcing concerns that Al-Shabaab retains the ability to exploit gaps in urban security despite years of military pressure.
Regional footprint
The foreign-fighter claim is particularly notable because, while Al-Shabaab has long recruited beyond Somalia’s borders, its operations inside Mogadishu have largely been presented as Somali-led.
The group has for years drawn support and recruits from across East Africa and has demonstrated an ability to strike outside Somalia, including in Kenya, where it has carried out some of its deadliest regional attacks.
The October raid appears to be the clearest case in which Al-Shabaab itself has openly advertised foreign participation in a high-profile operation inside the Somali capital.
That message appears to be directed at more than one audience. For supporters, it projects resilience, regional reach, and continued relevance.
For Somali authorities and their international partners, it serves as a reminder that the insurgency is not confined to local recruitment networks alone.
The video was released in Somali, Arabic, and Swahili, a choice that underscored the group’s effort to reach audiences across the region rather than only in Somalia.
Propaganda value
The decision to identify Ali Dhere’s son as one of the attackers also gave the video added propaganda weight.
Al-Shabaab has long faced criticism from Somalis who accuse its senior figures of sending other people’s children to die while shielding their own families from the battlefield.
By presenting the son of one of its best-known leaders as part of what it described as a martyrdom operation, the group appeared to be countering that charge and portraying sacrifice as extending into the leadership’s inner circle.
For analysts, that makes the video more than a simple retelling of a past attack. It functions as a recruitment tool, a morale booster, and an attempt to shape perceptions of the group’s leadership and reach.
The release also raises wider questions about the prospects for any near-term political opening with Al-Shabaab.
Analysts say a leadership that publicly celebrates sending a senior figure’s son on what was clearly a mission expected to end in death is unlikely to be signalling readiness for compromise.
African Union forces serving under the AUSSOM mission condemned the Godka Jilaow attack after it happened, saying it showed Al-Shabaab’s continued determination to undermine security gains in Mogadishu.
Despite repeated offensives by Somali forces, allied militias, and international partners, Al-Shabaab remains the most potent jihadist threat in Somalia and one of the most dangerous Al-Qaeda-linked groups in Africa.
The new video suggests that, even when an attack fails to achieve its stated battlefield goals, the group still sees strategic value in the afterlife of the operation — through image-making, narrative control, and the projection of a movement that remains regionally connected and ideologically unyielding.
