Somali Defense Minister Abdulkadir Mohamed Nur confirmed that the country’s army and locals have seized the strategic coastal town of Harardhere in Mudug region. It was the last district in the region that was under al-Shabaab’s control, Somali National Television reported.
It added that Prime Minister Hamza Abdi Barre thanked the army and locals for taking control of the port.
Al-Shabaab is a Somali-based Islamist insurgent group with links to the al-Qaeda* terrorist group. The group has long been leading an insurgency against the Somalian federal government, staging numerous attacks in an effort to impose a radical version of Sharia law in the country.
*Terroris groups banned in Russia and many other countries