Somali leaders attend Eid Al Adha prayers – in pictures

Deeq A. · August 21, 2018

MOGADISHU, Somalia (Caasimada Online) –Somali PM Hassan Ali Khaire and other senior government officials prayed Eid prayers with major religious men at mosque , amid heavy police and security presence in Somali capital Mogadishu.

Somali PM Khaire offered warm wishes to all Somali people across the world, after Eid prayers earlier on Tuesday

Hundreds of people crowded mosques and prayer grounds across Mogadishu to offer prayers and sacrifice goats and cows for Eid-Al- Adha for marking the second major religious festival of Islam.

Meanwhile, country’s top leader, Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed joined Eid prayers with Somali army forces in the capital of Mogadishu.

“I woud like to offer wishes to all Somali soldiers on occasion of Eid-Al-Adha. May Allah accept our sacrifices”, the president Mohamed said.

Mr. Mohamed urged country’s army forces to free Somalia from Al Qaeda linked Al-Shabaab.

Mr. Farmajo commended latest joint military offensives against Al-Shabaab in south and central Somalia.

The group’s fighters lost key towns to joint military operations carried out by Somali army forces, along with African Union troops in Somalia.

Al-Shabaab wants to topple Somalia’s Western-backed central government, expel the African Union-mandated peace keeping force AMISOM and establish a government based on its own strict interpretation of Islamic sharia law.

Somalia has been gripped by violence and lawlessness since the toppling of dictator Mohamed Siad Barre in the early 1990s.