By Hanad Abdi - Reporter
MOGADISHU, 29 September 2026 Al-Shabaab attacks in Mogadishu have fallen by nearly 87% since 2023, Defence Minister Ahmed Moallim Fiqi said on Saturday, citing a new security assessment.
Fiqi was speaking at an event held to honour Somalia's national armed forces, following the presentation of the assessment at the Ministry of Defence headquarters.
"Nearly 87% of terrorist attacks have declined, according to the report presented today," Fiqi said.
The minister said the government hopes to push the decline beyond 90% in the coming months.
Fiqi said the security gains in the capital had come at a heavy cost to government forces and security agencies. He said nearly 300 soldiers had been killed in bombings and assassinations carried out by Al-Shabaab, while casualties among intelligence and police personnel had reached thousands. The minister did not specify the period covered by those figures.
Prime Minister Hamza Abdi Barre said the government had spent millions of dollars on security, adding that the government had committed whatever resources and capacity it had to improving security.
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"The government has spent millions on security, and it will continue to spend. Significant progress will be achieved," the prime minister said.
Hamza also praised the security forces and urged them to safeguard the security gains made in the capital.
The figure cited by the defence minister is broadly in line with an assessment issued by the Prime Minister's Office on security conditions in Mogadishu. The Prime Minister's Office said security incidents in the capital had declined by 86.06% between 2023 and 2026, following what it described as a sustained security plan.
However, the government has not published the underlying data behind the assessment, including the number and types of security incidents recorded each year. That makes it difficult to independently verify the scale of the reported decline.
Mogadishu has long been a major target for Al-Shabaab attacks, with the group waging an insurgency against Somalia's federal government.
The government has increased security operations and the presence of security forces in the capital in recent years.