Troops clear Somalian town of militants

African Union and Somali troops have seized a town on the outskirts of Mogadishu from al-Shabaab Islamist militants after three days of fighting, marking the biggest victory over al-Shabaab since the pro-government forces took control of the capital last August.

Lieutenant Colonel Paddy Ankunda, the spokesman for African Union forces, said the troops moved into Afgoye yesterday and that most of the town was under the coalition’s control.

More than 300,000 displaced Somalis live in and around Afgoye, located 20 miles north of Mogadishu. Thousands fled the area the previous two days amid gunfire and explosions.

“African Union and Somali troops are here now, and al-Shabaab abandoned the town,” resident Aden Muse said by phone. “The fighting has stopped and people are indoors. We hope no more fighting will happen.”

Soldiers have taken positions in the police and district headquarters, residents said.

The United Nations recently approved a near doubling of the African Union force to more than 17,000 troops.

“It is a significant blow for al-Shabaab, that said al-Shabaab is not a diminished force and having been in Mogadishu I can tell you they continue to infiltrate the city, continue to conduct assassinations and other asymmetric war tactics,” Rasheed Abdi, an independent Horn of Africa analyst, said.

“They [AU and Somali government troops] should not rest on their laurels, the struggle continues … Mogadishu still remains vulnerable to these attacks.”

Al-Shabaab has waged a bloody five-year insurgency to remove Somalia’s Western-backed government and impose its harsh interpretation of sharia or Islamic law on a country that has had no central government for the past two decades.