In a daybreak battle between the Somali government troops gaining support from African Union troops from Uganda and Burundi conquered several positions which were earlier in the hands of the rival Islamist faction of Al-Shabab.
The battle which was taking along the famous Industrial Street in North West Mogadishu has caused the Al-Shabab fighters to retreat and abandon several key positions according to report which the residents in those areas are revealing to terror free somala website.Some of the key places which the Somali government soldiers have taken control, with the military help of the AU troops particularly a company of Burundian infantry troop is the premises of the Ministry of the late Honorable Somali President Mohamed Somali central governmentregime , another building called Shirkole Officaile where the military officials of the late Honorable Somali President Mohamed Somali central government used to have discussion about the national security and several other strategic positions.
“The AU troops and the Somali government soldiers are quickly advancing towards the National Soccer stadium which is also a big base of the insurgent, the AU troops have buried defence trenches which were dug by Al-Shabab” said a resident in area were the fierce battle is taking place.On the other hand the spokesman of the African Union troops Major Barigiye Bahoku has verified the seizure of the key places by the AU troops from Al-Shabab. Since the battle is still alive the acatual casualties between the fighting sides cannot be figured out.There are exactly 8,000 African Union peacekeeping troops in Mogadishu mainly to help the feeble UN-backed government of Somalia, which administers only few kilometres in Mogadishu.
The Al-Shabab controls the entire regions in southern Somalia and partly of the central regions
Somali forces in fresh anti-insurgent push.
MOGADISHU — Somali government forces backed by African Union troops on Wednesday launched a fresh offensive against Al Qaeda-inspired rebels, claiming forays into parts of Mogadishu long held by the insurgents.The Western-backed transitional federal government (TFG) said its forces had captured a building used as a base by the Shebab insurgents, a claim the Islamist insurgents promptly denied."Our national army crushed the enemy in several areas including the defence ministry building and in the Shirkole neighbourhood," Prime Minister Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed "Farmajo" told reporters in the Somali capital."We are going to continue fighting until we eliminate the Shebab threat from the country," he added.The TFG's information ministry said Somali soldiers backed by Burundian soldiers from the AU mission (AMISOM) seized the former defence ministry "which the extremists have been using as a logistical and operational base.""They also captured the former milk factory and the Military Officers Club (Shirkole Officiale) in a major advance in the northwestern part of the city," the statement said.The capture of those landmarks would mark deeper than usual forays into the city by pro-government forces who have mostly been confined to a small perimetre closer to the sea and tasked with protecting TFG institutions.Somali forces also claimed to have retaken control of sections of Industrial Road, a key thoroughfare which commands access to the dense Bakara market, an area from which the Shebab launch many of their attacks.Sheikh Ali Dhere, the Shebab's top spokesman, flatly denied the government's claim and said his fighters still controlled the former defence ministry.
"The enemy attacked the defence ministry building this morning and the neighbourhood around it," he told AFP."I can tell you that our mujahideen (holy warriors) still control the building," he added.Witnesses in the area said the fighting started early in the morning and was still going on at 3:00 pm (1200 GMT).The Shebab, whose leaders have sworn allegiance to Osama bin Laden and which has many foreigners in its ranks, controls most of the Horn of Africa country but have failed to break AMISOM defences and topple the TFG in two years of trying.On Sunday, the government claimed to have neutralised a mile-long trench and tunnel system the Shebab had been using to convey fighters, weapons and supplies across the city.The insurgents' response was swift and came in the form of a suicide car bomb attack on a police base in central Mogadishu, which left at least nine dead, according to government security sources."The move into these positions is designed to inhibit the group's ability to hide behind non-combatants and should result in a drastic reduction of civilian casualties in the city," the information ministry said.AMISOM and the government have come under intense criticism from the population and various rights groups for causing heavy civilian casualties when retaliating for Shebab mortar and artillery fire originating from Bakara.The TFG prime minister also said that government forces were on the offensive in other parts of the country, including in the southern Gedo region that borders Kenya."The fighting does not only continue in Mogadishu, it has also started in several other districts, including the Gedo region where government forces are battling the Shebab," he said.Farmajo's predecessor spent much of last year announcing a major nationwide offensive that would break the back of the Shebab and reconquer large swathes of the Somali territory.It never happened but Somali forces trained in Kenya are believed to have been awaiting deployment to support a hypothetical TFG military push in the Gedo region, currently under Shebab control.
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