Somali Forces Capture Strategic Town From Al-Shabaab

Somalia's armed forces on Monday captured a strategic coastal town that Al-Shabaab jihadists had held for more than a decade, top officials said

Mogadishu, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 16th Jan, 2023 ) :Somalia's armed forces on Monday captured a strategic coastal town that Al-Shabaab jihadists had held for more than a decade, top officials said.

Government forces, which have been waging a major offensive against the Al-Qaeda-linked group for months, took control of Haradhere in central Galmudug state after the militants fled without putting up a fight, they said.

"It is a historic victory," Prime Minister Hamza Abdi Barre said in a statement. "The brave members of the national armed forces... have destroyed the enemy of the nation and liberated the strategic port town of Haradhere.

" Deputy telecommunications minister Hussein Ahmed, one of several senior officials embedded with the troops that advanced on Haradhere, told AFP the port had been a key supply route for Al-Shabaab for both people and goods.

"It is very important that after a long time this strategic and historic district is now returned under the control of the government," he added.

Al-Shabaab had seized the town, which lies 500 kilometres (300 miles) northeast of the capital Mogadishu, in 2010 after dislodging local militias and pirates.