Somali forces capture six al Shabaab militants in Mogadishu battles

After two hours of fighting in Mogadishu with al Qaeda’s surrogate in Somalia, forces loyal to Somalia's transitional federal government have captured six militants, an official said on Monday.Ali Mohammed Ahmed, said combat broke out Sunday morning after the rebel group launched hit-and-run attacks on bases of the Somali army and African Union peacekeepers in the Abdul-Aziz district of northeastern Mogadishu.“We captured six militants, though they were all under the age of 18. They are well. We also discovered the bodies of four others near our trenches,” said Ahmed.The officer cautioned teenagers against fighting alongside al Shabaab militants because of the repercussions they may face when attacking TFG military positions.Separately, the Somali government’s intelligence department on Sunday displayed a young boy whom they said had defected from al Shabaab.Adam Abdiwali, 16, told the media that he was kidnapped from his home in the border town of Belet-Hawo six months ago and was trained in an al Shabaab military camp in Luq in the Gedo region of southern Somalia.“I have seen with my own eyes some of my companions being killed by al Shabaab after they retreated from frontlines because of the extreme bombardments from Somali forces and AMISOM. They want you fight until you die,” Abdiwali told reporters in Mogadishu.“Six months from now, I didn’t make any contacts with my parents. They don’t know if I am dead or alive,” he lamented.Early this month, the transitional federal government of Somalia set a March 30 deadline for fighters of Somalia’s hard-line group to surrender as anti-al Shabaab operations kicked off in Mogadishu and some of Somalia regions.The defectors were pledged full health care and help in building their future AHL