Baidoa, Somalia – Al-Shabaab militants claimed responsibility on Saturday for a mortar attack on Baidoa airport that landed near Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud shortly after he arrived on Friday.
In a statement circulated by media aligned with the jihadist group, Al-Shabaab said its fighters shelled the airport in the Bay region as Mohamud landed in the city.
The group claimed the president narrowly escaped, and security officers swiftly moved him from the area.
Somalia Today could not independently verify that claim, but witnesses and local media said mortar rounds landed in or near the airport compound shortly after the presidential plane touched down.
Witnesses said at least two rounds hit during the incident.
One landed near the area where the aircraft carrying Mohamud was coming in to land, while another fell as the president inspected a guard of honour from Somali troops inside the Shaati Gaduud airport complex, according to people present at the reception.
No casualties were immediately reported.
Mohamud went ahead with the formal military salute before security forces escorted him and his delegation under tightened security to the regional presidency, witnesses said.
Political crisis
The attack came as the Somali leader visited Baidoa at a politically charged moment, just days after federal troops and allied forces moved into the city.
That military advance triggered the resignation of South West state leader Abdiaziz Hassan Mohamed, widely known as Laftagareen.
He stepped down after a deepening standoff with Mogadishu over power, elections, and the direction of Somalia’s fragile federal system.
Mohamud’s visit was his first to Baidoa since federal forces swept into the strategic city on March 30, ending weeks of tension that had raised fears of wider fighting between troops loyal to the central government and forces aligned with the regional administration.
Baidoa, the administrative centre of South West state, has become the focal point of one of the sharpest federal-regional confrontations in Somalia in recent months.
On March 17, South West state announced it was severing ties with Mogadishu, accusing the federal government of interference and trying to unseat Laftagareen.
The dispute forms part of a broader struggle over constitutional changes, the electoral system, and the balance of authority between Somalia’s central government and its federal member states.
Two days after Laftagareen’s resignation, Prime Minister Hamza Abdi Barre appointed Second Deputy Prime Minister Jibril Abdirashid as interim leader of South West state.
Barre said the move aimed to preserve continuity, restore public order, and steer the region through a transitional period.
State media said Mohamud travelled to Baidoa to hold consultations with the interim authorities, elders, commanders, and civil society representatives on security, reconciliation, governance, and humanitarian concerns.
The presidency said the trip aimed to stabilise the region after the political turmoil and reinforce federal authority in a city of both military and political importance.
A city under strain
The mortar strike highlighted Al-Shabaab’s ability to hit even heavily guarded targets.
The group has long used indirect fire, roadside bombs, and complex attacks to show it can strike government targets, military facilities, and senior officials despite years of offensives by Somali forces and international partners.
Baidoa lies around 245 kilometres (150 miles) north-west of Mogadishu and has long been one of Somalia’s most sensitive urban centres, serving as a hub for government forces, regional troops, humanitarian agencies, and displaced civilians.
It has also repeatedly found itself on the front line of conflict.
In late 2021, Al-Shabaab fighters attacked Baidoa airport and an Ethiopian military base in the city, underlining the militants’ ability to strike fortified positions.
The latest attack came as residents were already grappling with the fallout from the recent federal advance.
Al-Shabaab, which emerged from the remnants of the Islamic Courts movement before African Union-backed forces pushed it out of Mogadishu in 2011, has adapted over the years by relying on guerrilla warfare, bombings, assassinations, and extortion networks.
Despite sustained military pressure, the Al-Qaeda-linked group remains the biggest immediate security threat in Somalia.
