Somalia forces and allies retake key town from al-Shabab
Al JazeeraThe army and local clans, backed by US and AU support, have been waging a broader campaign to drive fighters out of the states of Galmudug and Hirshabelle. Pro-government forces entered the town of Adan Yabal in Hirshabelle, about 220km northeast of the capital Mogadishu, after the al-Qaeda-affiliated fighters withdrew without resisting, President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud said in a televised address on Tuesday. The army and local clan militias known as “Macawisley” have retaken swaths of territory in the central states of Galmudug and Hirshabelle in recent months in an operation backed by United States air attacks and helicopter support from an African Union force, ATMIS. Speaking to the Reuters news agency, Adan Yabal Mayor Mahamud Hasan Mahamud said the army and militias took control of the town and the surrounding district of the same name without encountering resistance on Monday. Forced out of the country’s main urban centres about 10 years ago, al-Shabab remains entrenched in vast swaths of rural central and southern Somalia and continues to carry out deadly attacks in Mogadishu.
History of this topic
Al-Shabab attacks AU peacekeeper mission base in Somalia
Al Jazeera
Somalia claims capture of key port town from al-Shabab
Al JazeeraDiscover Related
)
)
)
)
)
)
