Somali Captures Strategic Town from Al Shabaab

Somali forces and allied militias have pushed al Shabaab fighters out of a strategic town in central Somalia that the Islamist group has controlled for six years.

Report says the government, backed by AU troops and clan militias has killed around 700 members of al Shabaab and recaptured scores of settlements as part of a months-long campaign to loosen the al Qaeda-linked group’s control over large swathes of the country.

Meanwhile, the mayor of Adan Yabal, Mahamud Mahamud, said the army and militias had taken control of the town and the surrounding district of the same name without encountering resistance on Monday.

“This district of Adan Yabal was very important for al Shabaab because it is the heart that connects the central regions and the south of Somalia. It was also their main base from which they manage the central regions,” Mahamud said.

He said the troops were sweeping the town, which is around 240km (150 miles) northeast of the capital Mogadishu, for mines.

“Seizing this town was the best opportunity for Somali government & the biggest setback to the terrorist which lost many districts in the last 3 months,” the prime minister’s spokesman, Abdifitah Hashi wrote on Twitter.

The head of the AU mission in Somalia, Mohammed Souef, described the town as a training ground for al Shabaab and said the broader campaign was delivering “destructive and decisive” blows against the group.

Meanwhile, analysts say Al Shabaab frequently abandons areas before army offensives, but the government often fails to hold recaptured territory thereby allowing the militants to return.

Reuters/ Oyeniyi Oyenike