Government forces recaptured a strategic district linking the southern regions to the country’s central regions after the al-Qaeda affiliated al Shabab group withdrew its militants on Saturday.
Residents in Hawadley district, located on the outskirts of the Balad district, 40 kilometers (25 miles) north of the Somali capital Mogadishu, said they saw Somali military enter and seize the district after the militants completed their withdrawal.
The district has a bridge connecting the country’s central and lower regions, which the group used to transfer goods and equipment to their militants in central and southern areas.
Somali military colonel Abukar Boonow, the supervisor of the military forces that took over the district, said that the Somali National Army would establish a vest army base in the area to advance the security of the Jowhar and Balad districts.
Somali government forces backed by the local pro-government militia groups have liberated over 40 villages and killed over 500 al-Shabab militants in the past three weeks in operations in central Somalia.
