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Somalia's version of the Taliban, functioning as an arm of al-Qaeda...has captured a small but strategic town 100 km (60 miles) south of Bosaso city in the semi-autonomous Puntland
...a region in northeastern Somalia, centered on Garowe in the Nugaal province. Its leaders declared the territory an autonomous state in 1998. Puntland and the equally autonomous Somaliland seem to have avoided the clan rivalries and warlordism that have typified the rest of Somalia, which puts both places high on the list for Islamic subversion...
region, a military officer, al-Shabaab and residents said on Friday.
Residents in Af Urur told Rooters that the town is now controlled by al-Shabaab.
"When we woke up this morning, we saw many al-Shabaab fighters controlling the town. The (Puntland military) forces had left yesterday," Ahmed Nur told Rooters from Af Urur by phone on Friday.
Al-Shabaab wants to topple Somalia’s Western-backed central government, expel the African Union
...a union consisting of 53 African states, most run by dictators of one flavor or another. The only all-African state not in the AU is Morocco. Established in 2002, the AU is the successor to the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), which was even less successful...
-mandated peace keeping force AMISOM and establish a government based on its own strict interpretation of Islamic sharia law.
Af Urur's position is important because the main road that links the cities of Garowe, Bosaso and Mogadishu passes nearby.
Puntland forces and al-Shabaab have fought in the town, which has ditch defences, several times in the past.
Mohammed Abdi, a Puntland military officer, told Rooters al-Shabaab had taken Af Urur town by Friday morning, adding without elaborating that only a few Puntland military forces had been in the town on Thursday evening.
"We were supposed to be replaced by other forces," Abdi said. "We shall recapture the town from al-Shabaab."
Al-Shabaab confirmed that they had control of the town.
"Puntland forces bravely ran away as we advanced to the town because they know we had taught them tough lessons before," Abdiasis Abu Musab, al-Shabaab’s military operations front man, told Rooters on Friday. "We now peacefully control Af Urur town."
Somalia has been gripped by violence and lawlessness since the toppling of dictator Mohammed Siad Barre in the early 1990s.