Somalia's army and Al-Shabab clash over strategic town
Growing attacks by the Al-Qaeda-linked group, including one on President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud's convoy, are fueling concerns of an extremist resurgence in the Horn of Africa nation after the militants were forced back in recent years.
Al-Shabab militants attacked Moqokori, roughly 300 km north of the capital, Mogadishu, with 'vehicles loaded with explosives and hundreds of fighters,' local militia commander Abdulahi Adan said.
The town's militia had 'tactically retreated,' he said, but added that 'there is still ongoing sporadic fighting in the area, so that this is not a complete takeover.'
Yusuf Mohamed, an elder in the nearby town of Mahas, said 'several wounded soldiers and community militia fighters were brought to Mahas for treatment.'
Moqokori is strategically located as a gateway to several other major towns in the central Hiraan region.
The town has long been contested, with Al-Shabab seizing it in 2016 and last holding it briefly in 2018.
The official Somali news agency Sonna said the attack had been prevented, and claimed 'several militants were killed during the fighting.' There were no further details.
It comes only months after Al-Shabab took the town of Adan Yabaal, also in the Hiraan region, and which was used as a base by Somali military commanders.
More than 10,000 soldiers from the African Union Stabilization Mission in Somalia or AUSSOM, are present in the country, but this has not prevented Al-Shabab from continuing to carry out attacks.
At the end of June, at least seven Ugandan soldiers were killed during clashes with Al-Shabab in a town in the Lower Shabelle region.
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