The Somali government announced Wednesday the seizure of several towns in the Galgadud region, located in the center of the African country, after several days of fighting with the terrorist group Al Shabaab.
The spokesman of the Somali Ministry of Defense, Abdulahi Ali Anod, has indicated that Somali troops have taken the town of Wabho and the areas of Uarhole, Elbore and Elgorof, according to the Somali news agency SONNA.
Somalia has in recent months stepped up offensives against Al Shabaab and has even banned the group’s name to refer to the organization, which has ties to Al Qaeda. Thus, it has demanded that it be referred to as ‘jauarij’, a word meaning «deviant sect».
The offensives against Al Shabaab, which are supported by clans and local militias, are part of a series of decisions taken by the new president, Hassan Shaykh Mohamud, who promised on taking office to put the fight against terrorism at the center of his efforts to stabilize the African country.
