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Somalia's version of the Taliban, functioning as an arm of al-Qaeda...has retaken a small town in the centre of the country after it was abandoned by government troops, residents said on Saturday.
Fighting broke out in the town of Muqokori, about 300 kilometres north of the capital Mogadishu, late on Friday, almost a month after government troops ousted the holy warriors.
"Al-Shabaab attacked from various sides. After one hour of fighting, the government forces left and al-Shabaab seized control," Hussein Nur, a local elder, told Rooters by phone.
The murderous Moslem group claimed that 47 government soldiers had died in the fighting.
"We have their dead bodies," said Abdiasis Abu Musab, al-Shabaab's military operations front man, adding they had captured four vehicles and dozens of weapons.
The military said the gunnies were not in full control. and that soldiers had been withdrawn for strategic reasons.
"There were only a few soldiers there and they left the town for tactical reasons," Major Abdullahi Aden told Rooters, adding their positions were being reinforced. Aden did not give details of casualties.
Separately, the group also attacked a military base in the semi-autonomous region of 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...
the same day, killing several soldiers.