Bay, Somalia

Bay (Somali: Baay, Arabic: باي, Italian: Bai) is an administrative region (gobol) in southern Somalia.

[5] It is bordered by the Somali regions of Bakool, Hiran, Lower Shebelle (Shabeellaha Hoose), Middle Juba (Jubbada Dhexe), and Gedo.

The present regions were created in the 1970s by the then ruling military regime.

During the Ethiopian invasion of Somalia in late December 2006, Bay region witnessed a series of fierce, concurrent battles lasting nine days between the Ethiopian military and the Islamic Courts Union.

According to the Population Estimation Survey (2014) (282), the division of population in the Bay region was as follows: 93,046 urban inhabitants, 463,330 rural settlers, 195,986 nomadic and 39,820 internally displaced persons (IDPs), making a total of 792,182.