MOGADISHU (Sh.M.Network)—Al Shabaab militants have begun pulling out of their last main stronghold of Kismayo, a port town located 500 Km (310 miles) south of Mogadishu, reports said.
Local people in Kismayo, the only remaining bastion of rebel Al-Shabaab told Shabelle Media Network station in Mogadishu by phone that the Islamist fighters had abandoned checkpoints where they used to extort taxes and left their battle stations.
The disappearance of al Shabaab fighters from zones close to where the allied forces were stationed does not necessarily signify an all-out retreat. Al shabab still controls towns in south and central Somalia.
However, the Al-Shabab spokesman Ali Mohamud Rage told AFP news agency: “The military command of Shabab mujahideen ordered a tactical retreat at midnight.”
“I saw a convoy of Al Shabaab troops vacating the front lines,” said a resident of Kismayo, who declined to identify himself. “I don’t know where (the fighters) are headed, but they aren’t in the town any longer.”
The city in now without control as residents began looting stations and stores vacated by the fighters and the Somali and Kenyan AMISOM forces have not moved in yet. The Al Shabaab’s Andulus radio station has gone off air and stopped the programmes.
For more send your comments to webmaster@shabelle.net
Comments are closed.