Friday, January 25, 2008
Muktar Ali Robow, leader of the al-shabab rebel militia, told a local radio station his forces also captured government troops during the raid on Baledogle, about 100 km (60 miles) west of the capital Mogadishu.
"We seized Baledogle airport, took supplies of arms and also captured some Somali soldiers but we released them," Robow told Shabelle Radio by telephone from an undisclosed location.
Residents said Islamist fighters armed with machineguns and rocket-propelled grenades took control of the airfield before breaking into two armouries. They then left.
"They seized the airport and killed three soldiers. We saw them taking government weapons with them and burning two battlewagons," resident Ali Aded Diriye told Reuters.
Robow also told Shabelle that al-shabab fighters killed 11 government troops in separate clashes in central