Awdhegle (Somalia Today) — Al-Shabab militants burned an entire farming village and its mosque to the ground in a scorched-earth retreat, the Somali military said Thursday, leaving homes, food stores, and harvests in ashes as government forces advanced.
The attack razed Malable, a village in the fertile Lower Shabelle region, one of Somalia’s main breadbaskets. Officials and analysts say the destruction marks a harsh tactical shift as the Islamist group loses ground under a sustained government offensive.
State media video from Wednesday shows Somali National Army (SNA) soldiers walking through charred homes and the collapsed mosque.
Al-Shabab has fought the federal government for more than 15 years. A joint push by the SNA and allied clan militias has expelled the Al-Qaeda-linked group from major towns. However, the militants still hold large rural areas.
According to the UN, more than a million people have been displaced in the past year, while Al-Shabab’s grip on key supply routes continues to slow aid.
‘Everything is destroyed’
SNA troops who secured Malable, near the strategic town of Awdhegle, found systematic destruction. An army officer at the scene said the militants torched civilian property in reprisal after losing control.
“What you see behind me is the mosque where Allah was worshipped,” the officer said in a state TV broadcast, gesturing to the rubble. “You can see how it is destroyed… they burned food that civilians had harvested and set fire to the farm tractors.”
In Mogadishu, the Ministry of Defence condemned the attack as an act of desperation.
“Having been defeated on the battlefield, the Khawarij are now resorting to terrorizing and impoverishing the Somali people,” the ministry said. “They are destroying wells, schools, and now entire villages. This will not deter us; it will strengthen our resolve.”
As of Thursday morning, Al-Shabab’s media channels had not addressed the Malable allegations.
A well-worn tactic
Analysts have documented that Al-Shabab often destroys civilian infrastructure when forced to withdraw from an area. The strategy aims to punish communities for perceived collaboration with government forces. It also seeks to make the areas ungovernable for the returning Somali state.
“This is not a random act of violence; it is a calculated strategy,” said Ahmed Abdi, a Mogadishu-based analyst. “By destroying crops, equipment, and water sources, the group leaves a vacuum that the government—with its limited resources—struggles to fill. It saps state legitimacy and sends a chilling message to other villages.”
Lower Shabelle runs along a critical corridor southwest of Mogadishu. Its farms feed markets in the capital, and its roads carry much of the region’s trade. For years, Al-Shabab has used the area to tax produce and control movement.
The government offensive gathered pace in 2023 and has won back significant territory in central Somalia. However, Extending those gains into Al-Shabab’s southern strongholds, including Lower Shabelle, has proved tougher—terrain, supply lines, and local security gaps slow operations.
Even so, the SNA officer in Malable vowed to press on.
“As the armed forces, we stand to defend your lives, your property, and your blood,” he told residents. “We will lift them off you wherever they oppress you like this. No one will enslave our people.”
Video from Malable captures the scale of damage: homes, harvests, and a mosque in ashes.
