'No Somali soldier killed in Ethiopia-Tigray conflict'

By Magdalene Mukami

MOGADISHU, Somalia (AA) - The Somali government Tuesday denied claims that hundreds of Somali soldiers have been killed while fighting alongside the Ethiopian army against the Tigray People’s Liberation Front.

Information Minister Osman Abukar Dubbe on Tuesday appeared on Somali state TV, telling the Horn of Africa nation that no Somali forces were involved in the Tigray conflict in Ethiopia.

The government official said fabricated and false reports suggested that 370 Somali soldiers were killed while fighting alongside Ethiopian forces in Tigray, noting that Ethiopia did not request any troops from Somalia.

“No Somali soldiers have been recruited by Ethiopia or taken part in the fighting in the Tigray region. It's a rumor and it's nonsense," Dubbe said.

On Monday, Abdisalan Yusuf Guled, the former deputy spy chief of Somalia's National Intelligence and Security Agency, claimed that over 370 Somali soldiers died while fighting in Ethiopia’s northern Tigray region.

The spy chief's remarks sent fear across the Horn of Africa country, with many families worried about their relatives serving in the Somali national army.