Somali's al-Shabaab seizes town from government

Somalia’s hard-line al-Shabaab militia on Wednesday wrested control of a town near the border with Ethiopia from pro-government forces, the militia commander and residents said.

The Islamist group overpowered government forces in Hodur, about 300km north-west of Mogadishu, in clashes that erupted early on Wednesday, they said.

“The mujahideen [fighters] took control of Hodur and the situation in the town is calm,” top al-Shabaab commander Sheikh Mukhtar Robow told Agence France-Presse.

“The town has fallen to the al-Shabaab fighters and there is no fighting inside the town now,” local elder Adan Mohamed Yunus said, adding that he had no word on casualties.

“There was heavy fighting in the town this morning and the Somali government forces fled after the fighting and the al-Shabaab are controlling the town now,” said Mohamed Dirie, a Hodur resident.

Al-Shabaab, a former military youth wing of an Islamist movement ousted by Ethiopia-backed Somali forces two years ago, had carried out relentless attacks against the Ethiopian forces who withdrew from Somalia last month.

In recent months, al-Shabaab have also launched operations against rival Somali factions and conquered large swathes of territory, leaving government forces in control of little more than a handful of blocks in Mogadishu.

Islamist forces opposed to United Nations-sponsored reconciliation efforts in Somalia have launched several deadly attacks against the government and African Union forces in recent days.

The attacks were seen as a warning to the troubled country’s new President, Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, a former Islamist rebel leader himself who has pledged to stabilise Somalia.—AFP