Overview
- Gunfire and reports of mortar strikes broke out in Mogadishu on Thursday as crowds prepared to protest President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud’s extension of his mandate.
- Somali police said they launched a large-scale operation targeting “heavily armed militias” that they accused of firing mortars in several city neighborhoods.
- Mohamud says his one-year extension is justified by a March parliamentary vote that approved a new provisional constitution and election rules.
- Opposition leaders and regional figures denounce the move as a power grab and called for Thursday’s demonstrations to reject the extension.
- Former prime minister Hassan Ali Khaire says he was attacked by government troops while leaving the Green Zone, and the clashes come against a backdrop of clan rivalries and large areas contested by the Al-Shabaab militia.