Some 1,000 soldiers backed up by 20 tanks captured three al-Shabaab bases, a senior security official said.

African Union forces backing the government say they have advanced outside the capital for the first time.

Al-Shabaab is under attack on several fronts, with troops from Kenya and Ethiopia also gaining ground recently.

Correspondents says this is the biggest joint offensive by the government and the AU force, Amisom, since August 2011.

Troops from Djibouti have recently arrived in Mogadishu to bolster Amisom’s 12,000 soldiers, while the AU is asking the UN to approve a further 50% increase in troop numbers.

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Mali’s army said Wednesday it had fought off attacks by Tuareg rebels, some of whom recently returned from fighting in Libya and have launched an offensive to seize several northern towns.

Fighting erupted in the towns of Aguelhok and Tessalit in the morning, keeping residents indoors as gunfire was exchanged, a day after the army said it had fought off an attack in the town of Menaka by bombing rebel positions.

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Fighting continued early Tuesday after there was a pause in the clashes between Somaliland troops and residents of Buhodle on Monday, Radio Garowe reports.

Recent reports from local sources in Buhodle say heavy artillery and gunfire was heard 25 kms north of Buhodle, there have been no confirmations on the deaths that have resulted in the fighting.

Somaliland troops attacked Buhodle from three different fronts, shelling the town with heavy artillery on Sunday, the fighting led to 7 dead and 15 injured.

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More than four people were confirmed to have been killed and seven others wounded in a heavy battle between Kenyan army and al-Shabaab fighters in Gedo region of southwestern Somalia, reports said on Tuesday.

Reports from the battlefield said, the combat began after al-Shabaab militants targeted an explosion on Kenyan military convoy traveling on a road in El-adde area leading to Garbaharay town, the capital city of Gedo region near Somalia’s border with Kenya.

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Somaliland army is reported to have seized control of the disputed eastern town of Buhoodle in Buhoodle region, near the Ethiopian border, without any confrontations. Reports said thousands of heavily armed soldiers moved into the town and neighboring villages early Sunday morning (local time) after they heard heavy gun fire from the town. They added a local tribal militia was testing their guns but were caught off-guard by surprise.

No casualties were reported but Somalilandpress has learned the army clashed with SSC tribal militia in the village of Sool-Jogto, about 25 KM east of Buhoodle city. After over-running them, they entered the city from two separate directions chasing the militia.

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Heavy fighting broke out late on Friday in Gedo and Lower Juba regions as the allied forces from the Transitional Federal Government (TFG), Kenyan Defense Forces (KDF) and the pro-government militias of Wal-jamaca (ASWJ) and Ras Kamboni fighters battled with the militant group al-Shabaab.

According to local residents, the first round of the attacks occurred in Dhamase village of Gedo region when the Islamist group ambushed KDF and TFG forces traversing the region.

The al-Shabaab fighters claimed victory over the attacks.

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At least 26 people have been killed and 13 wounded so far this year in two attacks by Rwandan Hutu rebels in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, an army official said Wednesday.

The attacks - blamed on the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) - took place on the nights of January 1 and 3 in the Shabunda region in Sud Kivu province.

“The first attack targeted the leadership of Luyuyu and killed 18 civilians while six houses were burned,” Colonel Sylvain Ekenge, spokesman for military operations in Nord and Sud Kivu, told AFP.

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