Hiiraan Online
Thursday, January 29, 2015
MOGADISHU (HOL) - in a further squeeze to the militants’ shrinking strongholds, Somali troops backed by the African Union forces have seized two more villages from the Al-Qaeda linked Al-Shabab group in southern Somalia, officials said on Thursday.
As parts of the relentless offensive against Al-Shabab group which is waging a deadly insurgency in Somalia, the troops have taken Janay-Abdalla and Farwamo villages along the Jubba river in Middle Jubba region after a brief battle with the group’s fighters. No causalities from the clashes have so far been reported.
No comments could be reached from Al-Shabab on the latest developments.
However, the group which lost most of its key strongholds has stepped up guerilla attack, largely in rural areas in central and southern. Political analysts predict that the current decelerate offensive buys a leeway for Al-Shabab to regroup, a scenario that could reverse recent security gains in the Horn of Africa nation.