Somali forces take over key central town: residents
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Xinhua, December 31, 2011
Somali government forces backed by hundreds of Ethiopian troops on Saturday seized control of the strategic town of Beledweyn in the centre of the war-ravaged horn of Africa nation, residents said.
Most of the fighters of the Al-Shabaab militants left the town hours before the Somali government forces supported by Ethiopian troops with tanks moved in facing resistance from remaining hardline elements of Al-Shabaab, residents said.
"The fighters fled before the government forces and the Ethiopians arrived. There were some skirmishes outside the town but it is now largely peaceful," Ilyaas Abdiweli, a resident told Xinhua.
Beledweyne, which is 300 km north of Mogadishu, lays close to the Ethiopian border and is a centre of Somalia trading hub that straddles along key route linking to major Al-Shabaab bases including Bulo-Burte and Elbur towns.
The fall of Beledweyne marks a major blow to the rebel group of Al-Shabaab which is facing a couple of other military offensives in the south of the country by joint Kenya and Somali troops, while it fully retreated from the country's capital in August following fierce battles with Somali forces and AU peacekeepers.
The Al-Shabaab commanders have yet to comment on the loss of the key town in central Somalia.
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