Somalia’s al Shabaab Islamists said on Sunday they had seized control of a southern town from the rival Hizbul Islam insurgents after clashes that killed at least 12 fighters.
Al Shabaab controls much of southern Somalia and parts of the capital Mogadishu. The group is fighting government troops and African Union peacekeepers to impose its own version of sharia, or Muslim law, throughout Somalia.
Witnesses said hundreds of the group’s fighters marched into Afmadow town in the lower Juba region on Sunday after heavy fighting that started the previous day.
Government troops and African Union soldiers fought a rebel group in a central town, the two main insurgent forces (izbul Islam and al Shabaab) battled each other in the south Somalia and police from the semi-autonomous northern Puntland region clashed with soldiers on their border. Meanwhile Somaliland leader calls for war on al Shebaab.
