page_title: Operation Indian Ocean
section_title: Overview
hierarchical_section_title: Operation Indian Ocean / Overview
caption_attribution_description: English: AMISOM's Brig. General, Dick Olum, speaks to his soldiers before the launch of Operation Indian Ocean in the Lower Shabelle region of Somalia on August 29. Operation Indian Ocean aims to liberate several new towns from of the terrorist group Al Shabab in the Lower Shabelle region of Somalia. AMISOM Photo / Tobin Jones
context_page_description: Operation Indian Ocean was a joint military operation between the Somali military, AMISOM and the United States military against the Al-Shabaab militant group in southern Somalia. It officially began in August 2014.
context_section_description: Launched on 16 August 2014, Operation Indian Ocean is led by the Somali federal government and is aimed at eliminating the remaining insurgent-held areas in the countryside. On 1 September 2014, a U.S. airstrike carried out near the town of Haawaay as part of the broader mission killed Al-Shabaab leader Moktar Ali Zubeyr. U.S. authorities hailed the raid as a major symbolic and operational loss for Al-Shabaab. Political analysts likewise suggested that the insurgent leader's death will likely lead to Al-Shabaab's fragmentation and eventual dissolution.
  In addition, the Somali government presented a 45-day amnesty to all moderate members of the militant group. Prime Minister Abdiweli Sheikh Ahmed announced that the pardon offer had begun to be taken up by many defectors. By October 2014, 700 Al-Shabaab members had surrendered to the state authorities. Among the latter militants was senior commander Zakariya Ismail Ahmed Hersi, who turned himself in to local police in the southwestern Gedo province in late December 2014. Sheikh Osman Sheikh Mohamed, the commander of Al-Shabaab's militia in the Luq area, as well as landmine expert Abdullahi Mohamed "Madoobe", and senior officer Bashaan Ali Hassan ("Mohamed Ali") followed suit and defected in early 2015.
  Additional senior Al-Shabaab commanders were also killed or died in combat. Among the slain militant leaders was intelligence chief Tahliil Abdishakur, who was killed in a U.S. drone airstrike in December 2014; commander Ibrahim Filey, who was killed during a skirmish with Somali army troops in January 2015; chief of external operations and planning for intelligence and security Yusuf Dheeq, who was killed in a U.S. drone airstrike in January 2015; head of external operations and mastermind of the Westgate shopping mall attack Aden Garaar, who was killed in a U.S. drone airstrike in March 2015; and Gedo province commander Mohamed Musa, who was killed during a skirmish with Somali army troops in March 2015.
caption: Brig. Gen. Dick Olum, the leading commander of the UPDF troops in Somalia, addresses soldiers during Operation Indian Ocean
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