Thirteen militia from the al Qaeda-linked al Shabaab group were killed in clashes with troops of the semi-autonomous northern Puntland region of Somalia, President of Puntland Abdirahman Mohamed Farole said today.
The insurgents were killed after attacking Puntland’s forces in an area to the south of Bosasso.
“Al Shabaab and foreign terrorists attacked our forces at an area 40 km to the south of Bosasso today. Heavy fighting took place and we killed 13 of them. We also captured several of them including a senior commander,” Mr Farole told reporters in a news conference held in Garowe, Puntland’s capital.
Puntland has been relatively stable compared with the rest of Somalia, but violence and instability have risen in recent months and the region is also a major base for pirates who have been causing havoc to shipping off the Horn of Africa.
Mr Farole said three Puntland soldiers were wounded in the fighting, but that the troops managed to defeat the insurgents and take their positions.
Al Shabaab and another Islamist militia have been fighting the Western-backed Somali government since the start of 2007. They control much of the capital in a country deprived of an effective central government and mired in violence since warlords toppled dictator Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991.
Reuters