Somali govt forces retake town from Al-Shabaab

Mogadishu (KON) - Somali government and allied peacekeeping forces on Wednesday recaptured a south-central town seized earlier by Al-Shabaab militants, a security official has said.

News Keydmedia Online
24 April 2014

"Al-Shabaab militants were forced out of the town of Ayn in the Hiran region after violent confrontations with allied forces," the official, requesting anonymity, told Anadolu Agency.

He added that the hours-long fighting had left four Al-Shabaab militants dead and a number of others injured.

Al-Shabaab has used Ayn as a launch pad for attacks on allied forces in Baldwin, capital of the south-central Hiran region.

Government and peacekeeping forces from the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) recently announced that they had made several advances against Al-Shabaab, which remains in control of large swathes of the country