Somali fighting spreads, a town controlled by Al-Shabab faction

Members of al-Shabab, a group fighting government forces in Somalia, seized the town of Jowhar on Sunday morning.

One resident told Reuters that there had been “serious fighting” in which at least seven people had been killed.

Jowhar was in 2005 chosen as the temporary location for the country’s transitional government.

The Somali government has been losing ground in recent weeks and now controls little more than the centre of the capital, with the support of African Union troops.

On 15 May, Somalia’s president appealed to Islamist insurgents to negotiate as intermittent fighting continued in Mogadishu.

Describing the clashes in Jowhar, town elder Ali Moalim Hassan told news agency AFP that “the other Islamist militia backing the government deserted their positions” - ceding control of the town to al-Shabab.

Al-Shabab is believed to have attacked Jowhar on Sunday morning on two fronts. After entering the town, militants took over the jail and released prisoners.

The government is thought to be attempting to bring in reinforcements to retake the area.

Jowhar is the home town of President Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed - and now that the country’s rainy season has arrived, the town is also the only passable route into central Somalia from the capital.

Source: BBC